To Fight Without Fear
by Ayala Atreides
Summary: Three years after the fall of Teppelin, Viral has been wandering the wilderness. Then his life gets complicated. A power-crazed would-be tyrant is out to eliminate all Beastmen and there's a human who won't leave him alone. Will be Viral/OC eventually.
1. Prologue

**Hello and welcome to the all new, greatly improved, freshly rewritten edition of To Fight Without Fear! This fic went on hiatus for a long time but now it's back and better than before.**

**For those of you who read the original version of the Prologue and Chapter 1 and Chapter 1 Part 2: welcome back! **

**To new readers: Greetings! This fic will follow everyone's favorite Commander Catshark through the timeskip and the second half of the series, and perhaps even a bit further than that! It'll have action, adventure, and a lot more! So please enjoy the story.**

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><p><strong>PROLOGUE—WHAT THE HELL AM I HERE FOR?<strong>

Viral had never wondered about his purpose in living. He was a soldier. Lordgenome had created him to fight, and he was damn good at it. He had served the Spiral King faithfully and with great pride. In his years of service, he'd risen to the rank of Commander. But now there was no Spiral King. There was no Human Eradication Army. Not anymore.

When he opened his eyes, a rare sight met his bleary stare: stars glittering across the blue-black sky, cold and still. Strange, twisted shapes loomed all around, stretching high above him. The crumbled shapes of buildings and massive beams of metal reached up like broken hands to block out patches of stars. It made a strange picture: the peaceful night and the remnants of a fierce battle.

How much time had passed? There was no way of knowing. He could barely keep his eyes focused, much less think about time. His mind was too hazy for that. His entire body felt heavy and numbed, and then there was something else, slicing through the fog, something sharp and burning and much more familiar… Ah yes, it was pain.

Heaving his head up from the back of Enkidudu's pilot chair, he forced his eyes to focus and looked down the length of his body. There was a thin, jagged spar of metal, and it had plunged right through his stomach. The pain was inescapable now as his senses came back to him. He dug his claws into the edges of the seat beneath him as a struggled to stifle the agonized shout that threatened to tear out of him. Even after all that had happened, he was still a trained soldier and his carefully honed instincts warned that the enemy might not be far away. He couldn't risk drawing any attention while pinned like this.

He clenched his fists so hard that his claws bit into the palms of his hands. There was nothing for it; he damned well couldn't stay here, but he wasn't going anywhere until that spar came out. His hands felt like stone as he lifted them up and wrapped his massive fingers around the cold, blood-spattered metal. This was going to hurt tremendously, to make a disgusting understatement. Immortal or not, he'd have to get it out in one go. Gritting his teeth, he clenched the metal in his fists and yanked hard. Pain exploded along his nerves, searing the flesh around the wound. A harsh yell choked out from between his teeth as the metal wrenched free. He slumped back against the seat, winded, stars that had nothing to do with the sky bursting in his vision.

Mercifully, the pain faded quickly—along with a bizarre hissing sound and a wholly unfamiliar tingling feel. He glanced down just in time to see the wound knitting itself back together, torn flesh melding back into place without so much as a scratch left behind. It was certainly a strange sight, although he probably would have found it more notable if he hadn't already witnessed firsthand the fall of an empire just hours earlier.

"So this is immortality, huh? Still hurts like hell," Viral growled bitterly.

Now that the pain had subsided and his mind had cleared, the memories of that night began to return to him. They were chaotic, harsh, but one truth echoed in his thoughts: The Spiral King was dead. He'd seen it happen right before his own eyes. That accursed child, Simon, had killed him with that little drill—plunged it into his chest and drilled a hole right through him. And the warped metal spires above him, the shattered structures… they were the ruins of Teppelin.

Viral lay there under the stars, sheltered within the shattered cockpit of Enkidudu, and he waited for the grief, for the anger… but what he actually felt was a heavy, deadening numbness. It burdened his whole body like a metal shell and wrapped around his heart like a shroud. He just felt empty.

With a loud grunt, he lifted himself out of the cockpit and stood atop Enkidudu, taking stock of his situation. For a moment, he simply stood there and looked up at the stars. Military life didn't leave much time for stargazing. Besides which, most Beastmen rested at night. As soon as the sun set, they usually halted their operations. Only the nocturnal breeds stayed awake to see it. But now Viral had a body that needed no sleep and would never grow tired. He could look at the stars all he wanted now… for the rest of eternity.

His mind went back to that day, when Lordgenome had brought him into the stasis chamber… the day he'd learned the truth… and then mere hours ago, when he'd faced off against Gurren Lagann one final time, and the words that the Spiral King had said to him… Again he waited to feel something—fury, loss, guilt, anything at all. And again, all he felt was a gaping hollowness like the weight of a Ganmen sitting on his chest.

"Damn it," he muttered. Off in the distance, he spotted the flickering orange lights of several large campfires and the glow of Ganmen eyes—the victorious apes were celebrating, no doubt. Viral stared at the gleaming, flickering lights, unmoving for a moment, mouth pressed together in a tight line. Tearing his eyes away, he turned his attention to Enkidudu's condition: There was rubble piled atop its legs and both of its right arms—nothing it couldn't have handled under normal conditions, but it'd taken a beating in the fall from Teppelin's heights.

"Hmm." He strode down Enkidudu's upper left arm and started heaving away all the debris he could lift. Some of it was beyond even his own considerable strength; he'd have to coax his Ganmen into movement if he hoped to free the mecha and leave this hellhole. He lost track of time as he worked, but eventually, he'd cleared as much debris from his Ganmen's arms as he could manage.

Hiking back up its arm, he dropped back down into Enkidudu's cockpit and laid back on the seat, slipping his hands into the control handles. At his practiced touch, the mecha's display screens lit up, their vibrant colors shot through with cracks and gaping, dark holes.

"Good. You're not dead, either," Viral murmured. He gently pulled the handles back. The Ganmen shuddered beneath him, but didn't stir from its place on the ground. "It's up to you now, Enkidudu," he growled, pulling the left handle back. "I did all I could on my own."

The Ganmen's right arms gave a spasm and low, metallic groan. Slowly, the arms lifted. He maneuvered the arms across the Ganmen's chest and seized a long, twisted beam of metal lying across its right arms. Its two sets of fingers closed on the beam, dragging it slowly upward. The gears and mechanisms in the left arms let out a grinding whine as they strained against the beam. Viral gripped the handle even more tightly, baring his teeth. Finally, the beam lifted up into the air. The corner of Viral's mouth tugged up in a grimly satisfied smirk. Nothing was going to keep Enkidudu down for long! He gave the handle a shove and the right hands shoved the beam away, letting it crash down among the rubble beside the Ganmen.

Once all four arms were free, all he needed to do was get its legs cleared—and that'd mean getting the damn thing partially upright. As he thrust the handles upward, the Ganmen shuddered and its mechanisms screeched in protest.

"Come on!" Viral snarled. "I know you can damn well do this!" He pushed the handles harder still and at last, the Ganmen stirred, quaking as its torso lurched up off the ground. He braced it with its battered hands against the ground, pushing it up to a sitting position. Shards of warped metal and shattered screen fragments rained down as the cockpit came upright once more. Once he'd stabilized it, he gingerly cleared away the debris pinning its legs, careful not to stress its fractured arms too greatly.

"Get up, Enkidudu," he growled to the Ganmen. He pulled the control handles up again and the Ganmen rocked forward, rising slowly. Its legs groaned under the weight of its body as it clambered upright, standing tall amid Teppelin's wreckage. He could only hope the humans were too busy celebrating to take notice of his less than stealthy escape. The Ganmen swayed dangerously but Viral steadied it with a skilled hand. He wouldn't be much of a pilot if he couldn't handle a damaged Ganmen.

After a bit of searching he found his four swords scattered nearby—all of them miraculously unbroken. He found them one by one and sheathed them.

He glanced over at the humans' camp again, and decided to go the opposite direction. He wasn't in the mood to deal with them again so soon, nor was his Ganmen in any fit state for a fight. The humans had taken everything else from him; he wasn't going to let them take his Ganmen, too. As he turned Enkidudu around, though, he gave a moment's pause. He contemplated the destruction spread out before him—the remnants of the empire he'd known his entire life. It was nothing now—just warped metal and shattered glass. And beneath it, jumbled in with the rest of the refuse… the bodies of countless Beastmen soldiers. So many generations of Beastmen had fought and died and strived to protect this empire, to serve the king who had given life to them. They had guarded the Spiral King for all that time, and now they lay entombed beneath its ruins. The sudden thought sent a cold rush down his spine and raised his hackles.

"I'm standing in a graveyard, aren't I?" he murmured to himself. Coldness gripped him, and he told himself stiffly, "Even more of a reason to get out." What place did an immortal have in a graveyard, anyway? It was almost a mockery of the natural life cycle—a mockery of the Beastmen whose corpses now filled the ruins, their lives sacrificed for the Spiral King and all of his secrets… secrets that now rested with Viral. The coldness grew around him and he bared his teeth in a snarl.

He gave it all one last look; he took one final account of what had been his whole existence. He guided his Ganmen through the destruction to its very edge—and then, Viral turned his back on the ruins of Teppelin.

He knew he'd have to find his way to a military outpost next. Enkidudu wouldn't last much longer without proper repairs. His mecha was all he had left; he'd be damned if he let it fall apart now.

It was a two-day journey traveling east to the outpost. The whole way there, he tried to prepare himself for what he'd find. How much would they know of what had happened? When he arrived, the gorilla Beastman in charge of the Ganmen maintenance hangar thankfully skipped the pleasantries and got right to the point.

"Viral! What the hell is going on at the capital?" the gorilla boomed, his heavy brow furrowed in alarm. "We got some garbled transmissions here from Teppelin two days ago, and we've been picking up scraps of fucked-up communications from troops in the field. None of it makes sense!"

Images flashed in Viral's mind at those words—the battle, the core drill, the collapse. His upper lip twitched, revealing his teeth for a second.

"Of course it doesn't make sense," Viral muttered. "It isn't something that should've happened. It shouldn't ever have been possible."

"Quit talking in circles! What's going on in the capital?!" the gorilla demanded.

"The capital…" The debris field filled his memories again, that warped graveyard and the bodies it hid. His stomach twisted, but then that heavy numbness deadened it again.

"Well? What about it?" the gorilla pressed, his heavy, jutting brow furrowing in confusion.

"There _is_ no capital! Not anymore," Viral shot back angrily.

The technician snorted, his wide nostrils flaring. "Don't bullshit, Viral."

"As if I would! Teppelin—" He froze, just for a heartbeat of a moment. The words stuck in his throat, as if saying them would give them a power they hadn't possessed till this moment. The gorilla gaped at him, still waiting for an answer that wouldn't even begin to make sense of the questions he was asking. Viral leveled his chin and spoke again. "Teppelin has fallen. Lordgenome is dead. I… witnessed it myself." His jaw tensed, his claws flexing.

"Huh?!" gasped the gorilla. "Dead? But how?! No one can kill Lordgenome! He's lived for a thousand years, who could ever-?"

"It was the humans. The resistance." Viral's voice sounded distant in his own ears, as if someone else were saying these bizarre words.

"The humans? You mean—that little brat, Simon?! That whelp and his half-assed crew? Th-that's impossible!" the gorilla sputtered. Impossible… He'd used that word himself quite a few times in his dealings with the arrogantly named Dai-Gurren Brigade. He'd always been proven wrong.

"Oh, impossible? You think so? Then you're another one who underestimated the naked apes," Viral sneered. He brushed past the gorilla and walked through the hangar, his steps dragging and his chest like lead. He'd see to Enkidudu's repairs shortly; right then, he'd have killed for a glass of cold water. His throat was parched and coated in dust.

Two more days passed. It took that long to find certain replacement parts for Enkidudu. He'd overseen most of the repairs himself; as a pilot, his mecha was his own responsibility. Now, as a technician finished up a few last repairs, Viral gathered supplies for the days ahead. He entered the Ganmen hangar with a load of food and ammunition, passing by a wolf female who gestured him over.

"The repairs are finished, Commander," she called to him.

"There's no use in calling me that anymore," Viral commented as he walked over to his mecha.

"Oh—I… I guess that's right," she agreed morosely, her pointed ears drooping. Viral climbed up, dumping his newly acquired supplies into the cockpit. "What do you think will happen now?" she wondered.

"Hell if I know," Viral replied shortly. Then he reined in his temper and nodded to her. "Thank you for your assistance." And with that, he walked his Ganmen through the doors of the outpost's hangar and out into the sunlight.

After some time had rolled by, he paused and turned Enkidudu back for just a moment. The outpost had nearly vanished from sight already; it was little more than a black lump in the distance. And ahead of him, there was… nothing. Just the vast, sprawling, rocky emptiness of the desert wastelands, with some dark mountains rising high on the horizon. He'd been on his own in the wilderness before, of course—but never like this. Never without orders. He had no directive, and there would be none coming. He'd have to make his own directives from now on. His upper lip curled back and he scoffed under his breath. There was nothing for it; he shoved the control handles forward and guided Enkidudu out into the wastelands.

A few weeks passed. The days crawled by in agonizing boredom. With literally nothing to keep him busy, Viral did whatever he could to piss the hours away… and to stop himself from thinking about that night, the final hours of Teppelin. The final hours of his entire life's purpose.

Sometimes he'd switch on Enkidudu's scanners and sweep for life forms—human, Beastman, or otherwise. Sometimes he'd study the digital maps of whatever barren stretch of rocks he found himself trekking across. Sometimes, to keep his fighting skills sharp, he'd practice his Ganmen combat expertise on the terrain—which really just meant he'd stomp the hell out of whatever rocks and plants were around. Not that they put up much of a challenge. Hunting became a welcome break in the monotony, and he'd put as much energy and skill into it as he possibly could. He knew he'd hit a low point when he spent so long stalking a grape-hippo that the sun set and the damn thing went to sleep. He hadn't even bothered to kill it at that point.

And on the subject of sleeping: he just flat-out didn't. There was no need, and when he did, all he got from it was swarms of hideously guilt-laden dreams—he'd see himself back at Teppelin, or at Adiane's side, or at Thymilph's, failing at all times to do his duty and protect them. Sometimes he'd picture the day that he'd disobeyed Cytomander, the very moment that had led him to question Lordgenome and bring this immortal curse down upon himself. Only it was even worse in the dreams, of course. Everything was off-balance and ten times more appalling than it had been in reality. So why bother with sleep?

Eating and drinking were another matter. He knew he didn't technically have to do either anymore. He would never have to worry about starvation or dehydration again. It was a pleasant habit, though, so he kept doing it. Sure, he didn't need it, but there was something so satisfying about freshly butchered meat roasted to perfection, and he had precious little satisfaction in this new life of his.

But then, when his supply of arrows and ammunition ran out after a few weeks, a brand new thought entered his mind: what if he simply didn't eat? What would happen? So, he gave it a shot. He'd gone without food before, after all. There had been a few times during his career as a soldier when he'd found himself out in the wilderness, in a particularly desolate area without hunting ammunition and only his claws and teeth to catch what little prey he could find. It wasn't a particularly dignified way to keep food in his belly, but it had sufficed. The most recent time, of course, had been after the battle that had killed Thymilph. Enkidu had been flung away from the battle, hurled across the landscape by an errant hit from Dai-Gunzan's arms. Viral had been left to limp out of the wastes in his battered Ganmen, barely able to hunt from his injuries. It had taken days (although it would've taken far longer if not for his considerable survival skills).

As such, he figured it wouldn't be too hard to go without. The feelings of hunger he got now were just remnants of his mortality, surely. He told himself that, much like his mind, his body simply hadn't adjusted to its new reality yet. He would learn to ignore them. It was easy enough, at first. He pushed the hunger pangs out of his mind, telling himself it was just a memory, nothing more. His body would surely come to recognize the new status quo sooner or later.

And then it all went downhill. As the weeks passed, he felt his strength sapping more and more. As his body weakened, time seemed to slow to a crawl. Without the energy to keep himself occupied, all he could do was sit there in Enkidudu's cockpit, barely able to pilot and with only his thoughts to distract him. Basically, his experiment in foodless living had turned into a disaster.

"Damn it all," he growled. After a month without food or water, he sat slumped inside the cockpit, dragging Enkidudu along one agonizingly slow step at a time. He knew he wouldn't have any strength at all soon; he had to get himself fed and watered or he'd end up stranded in the middle of nowhere, too weak to move but unable to die.

Of course, just his luck, he'd ended up in a dry, desolate area without the water or vegetation to draw in prey species. The few rodent and lizard species that scampered between the dusty rocks were too quick for him to catch in this state, and too small to be blasted with any of Enkidudu's weapons. It was at the edge of his strength, just as he was wondering how long he'd be stuck out there, that he finally had a break.

He found a tiny stream winding its way out from a jumble of rocks. It was muddy and sluggish, barely a trickle, but he followed it like it was the path to paradise. Eventually it grew, joined by a bigger creek as more and more shrubs grew up around it, and eventually it led him to a pond, and not even the thick algae choking the water's surface could disguise the darting shapes of fish swimming within. He knew he wasn't going to be doing any fishing in his condition, so there was nothing else for it: he powered up Enkidudu's right shoulder turret and blasted the pond. With an earth-shaking boom, steam sprayed up like a geyser, and boiling water and a hail of dead fish rained down on the mecha.

It must have taken at least half an hour, but he managed to drag himself down from Enkidudu's cockpit and gather a heaping pile of dead fish. It was a regrettable waste; normally he'd never do something so drastic—but then, these were unusual circumstances. He devoured two smaller fish raw, forcing himself to withstand the cold, slippery meat, and then he had the strength to build a fire. He cooked three more fish, savoring the smoky flavor and mentally deriding himself for letting it get to this point. Still, he hadn't risen to the rank of Commander by repeating foolish mistakes. Lesson learned.

Three months passed. Left to their own devices, the Beastmen had reluctantly begun to carve out a life for themselves beyond the military. Some had set up their new homes in the old army outposts; he'd even heard rumors that some were eking out a living on the edges of the Teppelin ruins. But many had set up new settlements, small but quick-growing villages that peppered the deserts, mixed in among the ever-increasing numbers of human towns.

Once again, Viral found himself wandering towards one of the Beastman settlements that had sprung up in the wilderness. This was one of the largest settlements he'd seen thus far. He left Enkidudu at the perimeter and passed through the gate under the watchful eye of four guards. They sat in two rickety towers on either side of the gate, clutching rifles and staring down at him warily. He knew there'd be other guards on duty around the hastily built perimeter wall. He'd already seen one skirmish between the citizens of a Beastman town and a ragtag force of vengeful humans. Lordgenome's troops had faced attacks from renegade naked apes many times, but that was before the humans had unlocked this hidden power of theirs. It was before the apes had started stealing Ganmen… before anyone besides Lordgenome himself knew the words "Spiral power"…

Now, after the defeat, Viral found that his fellow Beastmen were afraid of these damned apes. Oh, there was certainly anger, too; in every village, he heard furious words being flung around, bitter cries of foul play and enraged threats of reprisal. There had even been a few disorganized counterattacks, or so he'd heard. But only a few.

He never stayed in any of these places for long. Once, half a month ago, he'd remained in a Beastman village for two weeks. That was the longest he'd stayed put in any one spot since Teppelin's defeat. He always usually ended up leaving after a day or two; and now, he remembered why and was beginning to think that this excursion would end the same way.

He sat at the bar of the village's tavern. He kept his head down, mostly, his eyes on the mug of ale clenched in his hands—but his ears were wide open, listening carefully.

"Those damned naked apes!" slurred an extremely drunk anteater. The Beastman slumped against the bar next to Viral. With one hairy hand, he gripped a battered tin mug of ale that he slurped from loudly; with the other, he clutched at Viral's sleeve while he ranted woefully at him. "We was the… the greatest! Our unit was the greatest… ever! No… no de—no def… We never lost not once! Then those ugly naked apes stole—They stole from us! They…what'd they steal? The thing, what's the thing…The big things?"

"Ganmen. They stole Ganmen from us," Viral muttered bitterly, taking a swig of his own ale. Drinking, he had to admit, had lost some of its charm. He hadn't liked to get drunk too often, but now he couldn't even do that properly anymore. His body metabolized the alcohol so quickly that the buzz didn't last very long.

"Yes! Our shiny mechas! They stole our shiny mechas!" The anteater let out a sob and pressed his long-snouted face against Viral's shoulder, sniffling noisily. Viral grimaced and gave the anteater a light shove with his knuckles. The weeping Beastman slid off his shoulder and his head plunked down on the dirty, sticky bar.

"Those filthy ape idiots, they never would've had the courage to rise up like that if they hadn't stolen our Ganmen from us! To think they'd attack us with our own mechas," snarled a rabbit female, sitting at a table behind Viral. He spared a brief glance at her over his shoulder, seeing her ears twitch in fury. He could've pointed out the contradiction there—that stealing the Ganmen was really the cleverest decision that the reckless humans had ever made. But there was a barb of truth to her words that struck deep in his mind and burned there, stirring up memories from those last days of the empire.

She was right—without the Ganmen, the human rebellion never would have made it out of Ritona Village. They'd have been annihilated, just like all the other humans that had found their way to the surface. And to think, he'd been there when it all started. He'd been a witness to the beginning of the empire's downfall. Kamina and Simon… they'd been the first to steal Ganmen. Viral had lost his chance to end the rebellion; and the worst part was, he'd had no idea what that one failure would lead to.

His fingers clenched around the tin cup. _There were secrets we never knew about them_, he thought bitterly. Secrets that the Spiral King had deliberately kept from them… His grip on the cup tightened even more, his claws denting the thin metal.

"We… we oughta go and show 'em what happens to apes that mess with Beastmen!" the anteater snarled, thumping his fists on the bar.

"These apes think they're so mighty, after Teppelin," the rabbit scoffed. "It'd be as much as they deserved if we gathered ourselves up and went after them!"

Viral's claws dug into the grimy wood atop the bar. _Futile… it'd be so futile… it always was, right from the start!_ he thought, his gut churning with the frustration and rage that had simmered in him for months. _Victory was never an option for us!_

"That new capital city they're building, it's not too far from here," the rabbit went on. "And there're plenty of other towns like this around here. We should strike now, while their attention is on rebuilding!"

Viral flexed his claws, gouging the top of the bar. "So do it, then!" He could feel the eyes of the other Beastmen latch onto him at his growled outburst.

"What's that?" snapped the rabbit.

"If the humans piss you off so much, then go strike back at them," Viral said, not even bothering to turn around. "Go ahead and do it, and be cut down before you've even laid a scratch on Gurren Lagann."

"How dare you!" exclaimed a crow, jumping up from a table behind the rabbit. "Are you on their side, huh?!" The bird Beastman clacked its beak furiously at him.

"Even if we're killed, isn't it worth it? Isn't it right for us to risk our lives to avenge our leader—the man who gave us life?!" the rabbit demanded.

"Oh? You're really so eager to die pointlessly, just like the rest?" he shot back, his upper lip curling to show his teeth.

"Pointlessly?!" The rabbit eyed him coldly for a moment before she spoke again. "I know who you are. You're former Commander Viral, isn't that right?"

"Hm." Viral drained the last of his drink and set the cup down firmly.

"Weren't you at the battle of Teppelin? A gorilla in the east told me you were there," she said, her tone heavy with suspicion.

He stared at her through slitted eyes before he replied. "There… were many Beastmen at Teppelin."

"And most of them died. The battle of Teppelin was a massacre, that's what I heard." Her eyes narrowed. "So few survivors… how is it that you were one of them, hmm? Someone like you, who ranked so highly? I heard you were there when Lordgenome fell. How was it that you survived when so many didn't?"

"I won't let you sit there and talk about something you don't understand!" Viral hissed. "You don't even have any idea what they all really died for!"

"They died for their King!" the rabbit shouted. "You couldn't even do that much, like a proper soldier should!"

Viral snarled and leaped to his feet, blood pounding with rage, reaching back for his cleaver—only to find himself grasping empty air. Ah, of course—he'd left it with Enkidudu. He'd gotten out of the habit of carrying it, these days. What was the point, when he had no need to defend his life anymore?

The rabbit had sprung up from her seat, too. In the dim light of the bar, her bared claws glinted from the white fur of her paws.

"Get out of here, traitor," she hissed, "Before I rip your eyes out and feed them to you! Mangy cat!"

"Tch!" He straightened his back, lifting his chin to glare at her. Pathetic pipsqueaks like this weren't worth his time. Without another word, he tossed some coins on the counter to pay for his drink and strode out into the blazing sunlight. He could feel their cold, angry stares knifing into his back.

As he stalked back to Enkidudu, the rabbit's words echoed in his mind. _You couldn't even do that much, like a proper soldier should! _That was right… he'd been denied the chance to die for his King—denied it by the very man he'd tried to protect. The man who had given them all life… the man who had designed those lives to be incomplete—to be inferior… That was the man he'd been unable to die for.

The town grew distant behind him as he reached his Ganmen. He stopped in his tracks in Enkidudu's shadow, his entire frame quivering with fury. "Damn it…" he hissed, claws digging into his palms. "_Damn it all!"_ He sank to a crouch and pounded the ground with his fists. His shout echoed in the still, quiet air around him.

A year passed. The solitude was starting to grate on his nerves. Even in the army, his solitary forays into the field had always ended with his eventual return to his unit, or to Teppelin. He began venturing into Beastman settlements again. Mostly, these forays ended in fights. That was all right; Viral missed fighting. It had been too long since he'd faced a worthy opponent. Tempers ran high in these settlements, and Viral's failures against the so-called Dai-Gurren Brigade had become well known.

It was after a year and a half that he first approached a human settlement. He had been deep in the midst of the southern desert wastelands for a month, and his hunting choices had dwindled from "limited" to "almost nonexistent". He'd fed himself mostly with bony, little lizards—and the last of those had been a week ago. His arrows were gone, too, which sure as hell didn't help.

Of course, he'd already learned from experience what would happen if he ran out of food; he had no intention of repeating that mistake. He knew that if he didn't find some food soon, he wound run out of strength entirely. The wastelands didn't go on forever—he'd be out of them soon, though that wouldn't do much good if he lacked the strength to pilot Enkidudu out.

And unfortunately for him, the nearest village happened to be full of naked apes. Still, if he wanted to keep eating, he'd have to stifle his pride and deal with them. His hands were already beginning to shake with hunger.

He left Enkidudu about half a mile outside of town; it wouldn't do to cause a panic before he'd even arrived. With a tan scarf wound around his head to disguise himself, he walked in on foot. As usual, he found himself getting odd stares from the humans passing by around him. His face may have been covered, but his hands weren't and they were quite noticeable. Still, no one was attacking him yet, and that was always far easier than the alternative.

He made his way through the town till he reached a store with a crude image of a slab of meat painted on its rough, wooden sign. Arching his eyebrow, he thought to himself that it was at least a very direct way of advertising the butcher's wares. That was good; he didn't relish the thought of staying here any longer than needed. He pushed through the swinging door, just as hastily constructed as the sign, and into the interior of the shop.

His nose twitched as the cooled air inside hit his face through the gap in his scarf. Sure enough, he heard the distinct whir of electric fans. These new cooling gadgets that the humans had started using always seemed to stir up every speck of dust in whatever space they were implemented. For a moment, he thought longingly of the much quieter and more refined cooling systems of Teppelin and the Beastmen military bases. Still, the incessantly blowing air couldn't cover the enticing smell of fresh meat; it filled his nostrils and made his mouth water, making the edge of his hunger even sharper.

An old woman looked up at him from behind the counter as he entered; the woman's thin, white eyebrows hitched upward in surprise for a moment, and then her leathery face relaxed into an easy smile.

"Well, well! A Beastman visitor, now there's a rare sight in this town," she remarked.

Viral paused and inclined his head slightly, a bit taken aback. The woman's words were frank but her tone wasn't unfriendly. He was accustomed to a more guarded reception on these infrequent visits to human villages. Regardless, he had business here, so he'd put it aside and get what he needed. He was too hungry for human oddness. He tugged down the part of the scarf covering his nose and mouth.

"I'd think you humans would be used to uncommon things by now," he commented dryly.

"That's just what makes things uncommon, isn't it?" the butcher asked, chuckling. "If we get used to them, they're not uncommon anymore."

"Hm. I suppose that's true," he muttered, still a bit off-guard. "Tell me, butcher, what is the freshest cut of meat you have right now?"

"Ah! Well, just this morning we received a grape-hippo that one of the hunters in this village caught. He went all the way out beyond the wastelands to get it, too." the butcher said, tapping her finger alongside her nose knowingly. His stomach rumbled at the thought of all that tender grape-hippo meat. "How much do you want?"

Viral slung his knapsack down from his shoulder and hurriedly dug a couple coins out from a side pouch—the last of his money. "How much will this pay for?"

"Hmm…" The butcher took the coins and examined them, then handed them back with a sad shake of her head. "I'm sorry. Coins aren't much use to us here. We trade for what we need."

"Ah," he muttered. _Damn!_ he thought bitterly. How the hell was he going to buy food here when he had nothing to trade for? Frowning, he pocketed the coins and dipped his chin to the old woman. "Then, I'll leave you to tend to your shop. I'm sorry to have wasted your time," he grumbled. He turned to walk away, but before he could get more than three paces towards the door, the old woman piped up again.

"Now, now, don't go off in such a hurry," the butcher said, her tone lightly chiding.

"Hnh?" Viral paused and glanced back at her, his eyebrows furrowing.

She studied the countertop for a moment, tapping her chin. "I won't be losing much if I spare a bit of meat," she said, as if to herself. _Spare a bit?_ Viral thought, his frown deepening in confusion. She considered for another moment, and then smiled. "Ah, that's right, that's right. Maybe some of those raccoon-birds… Wait there for a moment, please."

He lifted his chin, trying to steal a peek behind the curtain to see what the hell this human was up to, without any luck. The butcher returned to the counter a few moments later, carrying a thick bundle wrapped in heavy parchment. Smiling, the old woman stretched out her arm to hand it to Viral. He stared at it, keeping very still as he tried to figure out the human's aims.

"Don't stand there with that sour look!" she told him. There was a slight reprimand in her tone, as though he were a sullen child sulking for no reason. He cocked his head at her, puzzled and utterly at a loss.

"What are you…" Viral started, bewildered.

"Take this," she said.

"What?" he said under his breath, eying the bundle warily. What kind of trick was this?

"Go ahead, take it. It's not likely to sell today, anyway," the butcher encouraged.

He stared at the human, not moving an inch but holding himself at the ready nonetheless. "You'd give this to me, a Beastman? A former soldier wandering into your town?" he asked dubiously.

The butcher waved her hand casually. "The war is over, isn't it? In this place, we're all able to live as we want and do what we want. To have even that much, after all those years underground, is all that anyone in our village ever wanted. We don't have any further quarrel with the Beastmen," the old woman said simply.

_Easy words coming from the mouth of the victors,_ Viral thought sourly. Still, the gentle smile on her face… it looked alarmingly genuine. He looked down at the parchment bundle.

Even from a few paces away, he could catch the scent of the meat. He quickly figured out why she was willing to give it away; with his sharp nose, determining the freshness of meat was an easy task. The bundle she was handed him still smelled edible, but it certainly wouldn't be in another couple of days. He guessed it would probably go to waste if she didn't get rid of it soon. He frowned at the parchment bundle.

"Humans around here… might start expecting handouts, if they hear you're giving meat away to strangers," he pointed out cagily.

"If that's the reputation I get, then that's not such a terrible thing," the butcher replied, smiling. "Just go ahead and take it. If I can be honest, you look like you could use it," she added,.

"W-what?" he sputtered, gaping at her.

"I hate to see anyone go hungry," she said softly. "I had enough of that in my younger days, in the darkness underground. Simon the Digger gave so much to let all of us live how we want in the sunlight. I think he meant for everyone to have that kind of a life, even you Beastmen."

The mention of Simon stung at his pride a little, but something in her words struck a chord within him. Still feeling utterly at a loss, he looked down at the bundle again and back up at the butcher. Slowly, he crept back over to the counter and raised his hand, grasping the bundle and tugging it from her unresisting fingers.

"The common thing to say now would be 'thank you'," the butcher prompted, half-smiling. Viral caught himself and shook off his befuddlement. Soldiers of Teppelin were trained to have good manners, after all.

"Th… thank you," he said, his voice low. "I… appreciate this." Quickly, before this situation could get any weirder, he lowered his head in a stiff, jerky bow and hastily took his leave.

Once he was out of there, he headed straight back to Enkidudu. He had nothing to trade for the arrows he still needed, and he wasn't about to hope for a repeat of… whatever the hell had just happened inside the butcher's shop. He felt strangely off-balance as he hurried to his mecha, his head spinning. Scrambling up to the cockpit, he stowed the meat away in the cold food storage locker and sank onto the pilot's chair, digging his claws into the sides of the seat.

"What the _hell_ was that about?!" he growled, pressing his forehead into the palm of his hand. "That human… she gave me food I couldn't pay for…" Sure, it was meat that was on the verge of spoiling, but it was still a damn weird thing for her to do. Why give anything to a stranger who couldn't even compensate her for it? Deeply perturbed, he fired up Enkidudu and took off southward at a fast clip.

By the following morning, the weirdness of the encounter had subsided a bit. He'd found a thin, muddy little stream trickling its way out from between some rocks, and he was following it, hoping it might lead him to fresher water. And by midday, it did—the much wider river before him plunged over a ledge to a cool, gleaming pond below. He left Enkidudu at the top of the ledge and climbed down to fill his water reserves from the pond. Once that was done, a thought occurred to him and he sniffed at his clothes.

"Tch!" he snorted, wrinkling his nose at his smell. He may have been a Beastman, but that didn't mean he enjoyed stinking like an animal. It was time for a bath. Stripping off his clothes, he gave every inch of cloth a good scrubbing before laying them out on the rocks to dry, and then dunking himself in the water.

As he cleaned himself up, his mind went over the previous day's events again, still trying to pinpoint exactly what had happened. The butcher had been… kind. Kindness. That was the word for it, the word that had escaped his memory earlier. She had been… kind to him. He'd seen plenty of human anger, fear, panic, fury… but kindness? That was sure as hell a new one. Humans going out of their way to help one another wasn't anything new, but what reason did a human have to be kind to a Beastman?

And the way she'd spoken to him… it brought up a memory, of a time when he'd run surveillance on a group of humans that had dared to venture to the surface. He'd observed a mother scolding her young boys. With the tech at his disposal, he'd been able to overhear her exact words. Her tone had been very much the same… Now that he thought about it, she'd sent the boys back into the underground village, telling them it was too dangerous. That had been a wise move on her part; he'd been under orders to stop the humans from going any further, and he'd done just that. The boys had been spared by their absence. The memory prickled in his mind, in a way that it never had before.

He pushed the feeling away, but the thought remained with him; the butcher had talked to him in a motherly way. What kind of game was this? Humans were inherently selfish creatures— that was what he and his fellow soldiers had always been taught. And yet, here he was.

"Hnh…" He scowled, and as he did, he caught his own reflection in the water. "Is that really what I look like these days?" he murmured, prodding at his ribs with one clawed fingertip. After eating so poorly for so long, he was definitely looking scrawnier than usual. It seemed all his time in the desert wastes had caught up with him. And his training routine had fallen by the wayside in the last few months, mostly due to lack of motivation.

Suddenly, the butcher's words came back to him. _If I can be honest, you look like you could use it_. Had she actually thought he was starving to death?

"The human was worried about me?" he muttered. Of course, hunger couldn't kill him anymore, but she hadn't known that. A human who was kind to him because she was concerned for his health… now that sounded like some sort of bad joke. He sat down in the cool, clean water, staring blankly at the gentle ripples flowing across its surface.

Deep in his mind, a tiny little notion drifted above the others: would any Beastman have been as kind to a human if Lordgenome had won the war? The thoughts whirling through his head felt like a swarm of flies. He smacked his fist against the water's surface, forcing the thoughts away. The whole thing was starting to give him a headache and he wasn't much interested in considering it any longer.

Another year passed and Viral wandered onwards. He watched Kamina City grow and spread where Teppelin once stood. He'd snorted and laughed when he'd learned what they were calling it. Of _course_ the naked apes would name it after that idiot. He stuck around the area for a while, mostly out of boredom, but partly from a sort of morbid curiosity. Observing the city was bizarrely fascinating. Freed from their captivity, these humans were advancing at an almost alarming rate.

Two and a half years had gone by since the fall of Teppelin. It was another cold night in the high desert. Viral stared listlessly out through the open hatch of the cockpit, watching the moonlit sand and rocks roll past under Enkidudu's long stride. The Ganmen had been walking almost nonstop for nearly three days now… but it wasn't until that moment that Viral realized something: he didn't even know where he was going. He was literally wandering aimlessly.

"Damn it," he hissed, bringing his mecha to a halt. He growled and dropped his head, then took a deep breath, trying to regain his bearings. He let go of the controls and climbed out of the cockpit, scaling his Ganmen head until he stood atop its head.

The view from this height was spectacular. The desert stretched for miles all around him. To a human, it might have been deathly quiet; his sensitive ears picked up all sorts of sounds, though—the scratching of animals on the ground, the quiet rustle of a nightbird's wings. He tilted his head back, searching the expanse of the night sky.

He sat down on Enkidudu's head, his eyes still fixed on the stars as he wondered where exactly he was going. But then a better question rose up in his mind: rather than _where_, he asked himself… why? What was the point of even picking a destination? He wouldn't do anything when he got there, except to eat, drink, and maybe get in a fight. If he really wanted to change things up, maybe he'd even seek out a female's company. And then he'd leave and wander aimlessly to the next town, where he'd repeat it all. He clenched and unclenched his massive, clawed hands, gritting his razor-sharp teeth.

Far up above him, billions of stars glittered coldly.

"What the hell am I here for?" he growled. The stars didn't give an answer.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1 Part 1: Coming Soon!<strong>


	2. Chapter 1

**Ohhhh my god. D: I am so sorry! I'm sure everyone who was following this story probably thinks it's been abandoned by now. Well, good news! It hasn't been abandoned at all! :D There's been a lot happening in my life, a lot of uncertainty and upheaval that ruined my motivation for a long time, but I never forgot about this fanfic. The story continues! Hopefully the gap between this chapter and the next one will be shorter.**

**Anyway, this story has been thoroughly written during that long hiatus! This is a fresh rewrite of Chapter 1 and Chapter 1 Part 2, and there will be an all-new Chapter 2 posted as well! And the Prologue was also rewritten so if you read this before I encourage you to go reread the Prologue before you read Chapter 1.**

**Now, let's get going with this improved Chapter 1! As with before, Chapter 1 is in two pieces! Just think of it as a two-part series premiere. ;) Anyway, this was a super-fun chapter to write (over and over and over again), and this is where you meet the OC! Her name is Aika. I hope you like reading her as much as I like writing her! **

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><p><strong>CHAPTER 1 PART 1—SOMETHING I'LL GLADLY DO!<strong>

It had been three years since the fall of Teppelin. Three years of wandering the wilderness. Three years of getting into fights, of getting killed and never staying dead. He had to admit, though, that it was amusing to see the looks on his opponents' faces when he shrugged off fatal wounds as though they were scratches. Even so, he was getting bored. There was only so many times a Beastman could watch his enemies' faces contort in shock and horror before even that delight began to lose its charm.

Viral glared down at the glowing map on Enkidudu's data display. The nearest town was a human settlement called Hajime Village. He knew the name: it was one of the underground colonies. He'd have to stop and see if he could barter for some supplies, as he'd run out of arrows for hunting. Once again, he cursed the need for food to maintain his strength. He slouched down in the pilot's chair, idly watching the flashing green mark on the map grow closer as Enkidudu walked along.

It was a good day for traveling, at least. Summer was coming, but the heat hadn't gotten too severe yet. He opened the cockpit, letting the warm breeze and fresh air in. It stirred the stale air around him and ruffled his hair, which was starting to get ragged and messy again. He'd have to trim it. He'd never have allowed it to get to this state three years ago, he thought with a stir of annoyance at himself.

Enkidudu soon neared the shallow ravine where the entrance to Hajime Village would be located. As he approached the top of the ravine, a quick flash of blinding light exploded from somewhere below the canyon's lip, rumbling the ground beneath Enkidudu's feet. Viral cursed and gripped the control handles, steadying his mecha as it swayed and shuddered. A thick pillar of black smoke rose up from the bottom of the low cliff ahead. He shut the cockpit and guided Enkidudu up to the edge of the precipice. What he saw down below through the smoke made him scowl.

At the base of the cliff were five Ganmen standing around the village entrance, with a crowd of humans standing their ground between the mechas and their home. Four of the five were standard models, all of them reptile-types; all had their weapons at the ready, a bristling assortment of guns, blades, and maces. The fifth one, though—a crocodile-type Ganmen—was definitely a custom mecha. It waited with its fists clenched at its sides, no weapon drawn. But Viral knew just from looking at it that it didn't need one; he recognized the armor plates that hid gun turrets and rockets. And there, atop the mecha's head…

"A particle beam?" Viral muttered. Yes, that was the metal ring of a beam focusing lens. This mecha's pilot had been someone of high rank, to get a model with a feature like that. He switched on Enkidudu's external communication channel, his curiosity piqued. A jumble of enraged voices flooded the cockpit.

"—Of it, or we'll fire again!" shouted the pilot of one of the standard models, waving its club. "Hurry up and hand over your damn food, naked apes!"

"We've got plenty more rockets for you to chew on if you don't!" bleated one of the others.

The pilot of the custom mecha spoke then. "It'd be a shame to waste our ammunition on pitiful humans like you, but we will if we have to!" he trumpeted. Viral growled under his breath. He knew that voice, and he disliked it immensely.

"Koji, commander of the Far Southern Theatre," he said with a sneer. Ah, yes, now he remembered it—the crocodile commander and his custom Ganmen, Waru. That swaggering, undignified, blustering fool... Well, _this_ would certainly make Viral's day more interesting!

* * *

><p><em>Inside Hajime Village's kitchen cavern…<em>

"Ugh, kitchen duty," sighed a very bored young woman. She stood at a metal sink in the busy kitchen, with a wet rag in one hand and a dirty dish in the other. She scrubbed the clay plate clean and set it down next to the sink, then paused to brush a few locks of black hair away from her eyes with the back of her wrist. Grabbing the next plate in the stack, she started humming a jaunty little tune under her breath, giving the plate a little twirl as the melody brought a smile to her face. The young man drying plates next to her shook his head.

"Hey, careful with those. We're starting to run low on plates, remember?" he warned.

"Ah! Sorry, sorry," she exclaimed, wincing. "No more plate spinning, I promise."

He smiled faintly and shrugged. "Don't worry so much about it. Just do your best not to drop them."

"Right!" she agreed enthusiastically. She grabbed the next plate, scrubbing with less theatrics this time.

_BOOM! _The entire kitchen cavern shook as an explosion rumbled through the village. The young woman shrieked and a plate fell from her hands with a sharp crack, as everyone in the cavern shouted and gasped. The ground rumbled and she grabbed the edge of the sink and threw her other arm above her head, shielding herself from the dust and chunks of stone that fell from the ceiling. Panicked shouts and pained cries echoed in the tunnel outside the cavern. As the rest of the dish-cleaners ducked for cover, she threw her cleaning rag onto the counter and dashed out into the corridor.

"Aika!" She looked to the left at the sound of her name and saw an older woman running towards her.

"What's going on, Minako?!" Aika asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "What was that explosion? I was just standing there doing dishes and then-"

"Five enemy Ganmen that want our supplies," Minako replied tersely, her dark eyes burning with anger. "Come on, let's go! This is it, Aika!"

Aika's heart hammered with both fear and anticipation at those words, knowing exactly what "it" meant. "R-right!" she stammered, clenching her fists against the surge of fear inside her.

"You go and get Shoji—he's on laundry duty. I'll meet you both at the launch cave!" Minako told her. Aika nodded and sprinted off down the corridor. She ran straight to the laundry room, not even slowing down or stopping for a moment. Shoji looked up as she skidded around the corner into the room, wheeling her arms to keep her balance. Seizing the door frame with one hand to stay on her feet, she waved frantically at the stocky young man sitting beside the washing basin.

"Let's go, Shoji!" she yelled, waving frantically to him. "We're under attack!" His eyes went wide and he bobbed his head, his brown hair flapping in his face, and leaped to his feet. The two of them sprinted out of the room.

They raced through the twisting tunnels of their village, their footfalls and sharp breaths echoing off the stone walls. The lights mounted in the tunnels whipped past, turning Shoji's shape in front of her into a strange, flashing silhouette. Aika pushed her legs even faster to keep up with him. _Hurry up, hurry up,_ she chanted inside her head.

"I can't believe it… it's been a couple months without an attack… and now… five of them show up!" Aika gasped as she ran. "I mean… that's not exactly… fair odds, y'know?"

"Uh-huh," Shoji panted. "Now just run!"

Aika's legs burned as the tunnel hit an incline, sloping up into the darkness and veering closer to the surface. They were almost there! It always seemed like a longer distance when they were actually in a hurry. The tunnel opened up into a massive cavern, set way back in a side canyon, away from the village entrance. The ceiling stretched away so high overhead that was barely visible in the shadows. Sunlight streamed in through the mouth at the front, and it gleamed on three towering mechas. They filled the cave with their towering forms. The light glinted from their huge fangs and weapons, shining off their smooth metal armor. Aika's racing pulse leaped with pride at the sight, as it always did. Despite the terror of what was about to happen, she couldn't help but feel a tiny smile tug at the corner of her mouth.

Minako was waiting for them just inside the entrance. She waved to them and they each split off towards their mechas. Aika dodged her way around machinery and scattered equipment as she ran to her black-horned, bull-faced mecha. They'd practiced doing this same thing hundreds of times, so it should have been easy, but Aika's palms were still sweating and she could feel her heart pounding against her ribs. scrambling up into the cockpit. With sweat-soaked hands, she took hold of the control grips. A low, familiar hum filled the cockpit as the mecha came to life.

"Okay, let's go!" commanded Minako, her voice crackling over the communication channel. "Those damn furballs think they can march in here and take our food? Let's teach 'em different!"

"Yeah!" Shoji cheered, whooping. Aika gripped her controls, her heart pounding too hard to say anything. Adrenaline welled up, edging through the fear a little.

"Okay, mecha," she muttered. "We've done this before. Don't let me down now! We can take these guys… We have to!"

_I hope,_ she added silently. _Five against three, those aren't very good odds… And we haven't had very many fights, when you think about it. _She gritted her teeth. _Even so… there's no choice here…_ With a sharp yell, she thrust the control grips forward. _I just gotta do it!_

* * *

><p>Viral looked on as three Ganmen charged out of the side canyon to his right. He saw a canine-type, an ape-type, and a bull-type. This last one, he noticed with an irritated scoff, had been sloppily painted the same shade of bright red as Gurren-Lagann. They thundered out into the ravine and the crowd of humans cheered, falling back to the village entrance.<p>

"Even this village, in the middle of nowhere, has stolen Ganmen," he muttered. He wasn't terribly surprised. If there was one thing he'd learned about humans in the past three years, it was that he really shouldn't be surprised by anything they might do.

Down below, Koji laughed harshly. "What's this, huh?" he jeered. Viral could easily picture the sneer on the crocodile-Beastman's face. "Is this all you've got? Pathetic! It's almost embarrassing!"

Viral studied the three Ganmen, zooming in on them with the display screen. All three were standard models that had seen better days. Their pilots were doubtless amateurs. They wouldn't stand a chance against Koji's particle beam. Viral himself knew the power that those weapons held. Enki's particle beam had been top of the line… before Kamina destroyed it, at least. The thought of that human elicited another growl from Viral; Enki's particle beam could have ended the human resistance that day if the blue-haired madman hadn't made that reckless decision to combine his mecha with Lagann. Only that one lucky choice had saved them from its power.

And now here was Koji, using what was doubtlessly an improved model of the particle beam to steal food from a bunch of naked apes. Not only was it cowardly, it was also completely excessive. These humans faced an unimaginably powerful weapon and five highly-trained soldiers as well. They were outnumbered and outmatched. Unless they were as lucky as Kamina had been…

His clawed hands tightened on the control handles until his knuckles cracked. "So this is how you've ended up, eh, Koji?" he muttered. "Stealing food from weaker creatures like a wild animal? Tch!" Viral never could tolerate a coward. To think that one of his peers would lower himself to such a thing! "This should ease the boredom for a while!" He thrust the control handles forward.

Enkidudu leapt forward, springing off the clifftop and plunging down to the valley floor. Its feet impacted with the force of a small explosion—it landed with a satisfying, echoing thud, cracking the ground beneath it, raising up a cloud of dust and hurling shards of rock away. The assembled Ganmen all turned to stare, as did the humans lurking by the village entrance. Viral grinned appreciatively at the reaction.

* * *

><p>Aika gaped in shock at the four-armed mecha that had dropped down from above. It didn't look like any of the Ganmen they'd ever seen before.<p>

"Six against three?!" she exclaimed. "Th-that's… that's just… these guys have no sense of fairness! None at all!"

The new mecha stayed crouched on the ground for a few seconds before slowly standing up. It rose to its full height—which was impressive, she had to admit—and looked over the crowd with its yellow eyes. Then it opened its fanged mouth and the pilot's deep voice boomed out.

"Have you forgotten how to hunt, Koji?" sneered the pilot. _What a weird way to greet an ally,_ Aika thought.

The lizard-like mecha leading the Beastmen lifted its snout and let out a rough laugh. "Viral? Is that you?" asked its pilot. "I'm amazed you even have the nerve to show your face around our kind anymore!" The other four Beastmen mechas laughed and jeered along with him. One of them even turned around and shook its backside mockingly at the four-armed one.

"What's going on with these guys?" Aika wondered, staring back and forth between them.

"I don't need a lecture on history from the likes of you, Koji," the new pilot (Viral, apparently) replied coldly. "Now answer my question: have these three years outside the military ruined your ability to hunt? Why are you stealing from naked apes like a stray mongrel?"

"What does it matter?" scoffed the lizard-leader, Koji. "They're just monkeys!" Aika tightened her grip on the control handles, irritation flaring within her. To her left, Shoji's doglike Ganmen took half a step forward.

"Hold on," said Minako over a closed channel. "Let's see where this is going."

* * *

><p>Viral bared his teeth at the crocodile Ganmen on his screen. He felt the sting of shame at the memories that Koji's words brought up, but he shoved it aside.<p>

"A real warrior finds his own food," he snarled. "And yet here you are, reduced to raiding supplies from weaker beings! It's disgraceful."

"Oho, you'd dare talk to me about disgrace?" roared Koji. "You, of all Beastmen?! First you failed your commanding officers, then you failed our glorious leader, and now you're defending humans!"

Viral grinned as the thrill of the oncoming battle filled his veins. "If putting a coward like you in his place means that I have to defend humans," he growled, "Then it's something I'll _gladly do!_" He seized the four hilts of Enkidudu's swords and drew them out; the ringing scrape of metal on metal rang out as the blades came free of their holsters. He raised the swords high, thrust the controls forward, and charged. Waru drew its own blade, a massive broadsword, and leaped towards him with a scream.

* * *

><p>"Well, I guess that settles it!" exclaimed Minako. "Let's get in there!"<p>

She and Shoji both hollered and dashed towards the enemy mechas. Aika joined in, letting out an adrenaline-pumped yell, her voice shaking. Her mecha hefted its huge, metal mace and she joined the charge.

She ran straight at one of the lizard Ganmen, waving her club. It lifted a gigantic handgun and fired—the missile-sized bullet rocketed towards her and she hurled herself to the side. For a moment, everything seemed to bog down; her Ganmen moved with terrifying slowness… but the bullet zipped by, just barely missing her right horn! She swung her club, but her light, nimble enemy sprang out of the way.

"I just _had_ to pick the mecha with stubby little legs!" Aika groaned, hauling her bulky Ganmen upright as it stumbled forward. She teetered past the lizard-type, but the enemy Ganmen turned on its heel and fired again. Aika gave a shriek as the bullet grazed the left side of her Ganmen's head. "Damn, this guy's quick!"

A high-pitched snarl echoed out of the enemy Ganmen. The lizard mecha darted at her and its right foot lashed out in a kick. "Whoa!" Aika yelled. She jerked her mecha's arm up—_CLANG!_ She peeked at the lizard through squinted eyes. Her Ganmen had caught its foot in its hand! "Ha!" Aika exclaimed breathlessly. "How's that, ya scaly bastard?!"

The pilot laughed, a dry, rasping sound that set her teeth on edge. Then it twisted its leg, breaking free and sending Aika staggering backwards. Her arms jerked up in surprise and her mace flailed around blindly.

"Hey, watch it!" shouted Shoji in his dog-faced mecha. "You nearly hit me there!"

"S-sorry!" she shouted back. Then the lizard came at her again and she gave the club another swing. The lizard-type ducked under its swing and kept coming, growling furiously. It lashed out with the long claws on its free hand—Aika swept her mace around in an arc and batted the grasping claws away! She jerked the club down and swung again. This time, it hit its mark! The lizard lurched sideways as the club smashed into its right leg. "Yeah!" Aika hollered, grinning.

* * *

><p>Koji's sword met Viral's blades overhead with a resounding crash. The blades locked together, grating and grinding until sparks showered down from the clashing metal.<p>

"Filth! Traitor!" Koji spat. "You're not fit to ride in that cockpit!"

"At least I haven't reduced myself to petty thievery!" Viral snapped back. He thrust forward, breaking the locked blades apart and sending Koji backwards. Koji recovered and charged again, sword high above Waru's head. The blade swept down in a blindingly fast arc—Viral parried, Waru's blade striking two of his with a reverberating clang that he could feel even in the cockpit. He bared his teeth and swept the blade down, and then shoved hard. Waru stumbled back, but kept its footing; it wouldn't be that easy to take down a former commander, after all.

"You have no place trying to talk to me about honor!" Koji retorted. "You failed Thymilph, you failed Adiane, you disobeyed Cytomander… and then you couldn't even protect the Spiral King! Oh yes, we've all heard the stories!"

Viral wouldn't make a fool of himself with excuses—he wouldn't give Koji the satisfaction of hearing it! Instead he growled and lunged again, his four katanas a whirlwind of black metal. Koji parried each attack, but that broadsword was already struggling to keep up. It seemed his opponent was out of practice! Viral's lips curled back in another grin.

* * *

><p>A low, deep snarl rumbled out of the lizard mecha as Aika squared off against it again. It jerked its pistol up and ran at her. Aika yelped, jerked her mace up and swung—but the Ganmen fired and the bullet zinged off the side of the mace! The mace shuddered and rang like a bell from the blow. Aika winced, flexing her hand on the control handle. There was no time to recover- the lizard kept coming! With a gasp, Aika brought the mace up, thrusting it straight out. The lizard tried to swerve but too late! Its handgun collided muzzle-first with the end of the mace and the barrel crumpled.<p>

"Ha ha!" Aika whooped triumphantly.

"You human brute!" howled the lizard pilot. Its hand darted down to its hip and drew out a short, metal baton.

"Oh, you got a mace too, huh? I bet mine's tougher! C'mon, you scaly-faced bastard!" she yelled, her blood racing with the high of the fight. They charged at each other and both swung. The quick-footed lizard mecha struck first, smacking her heavier mace away and twisting its hand around again in a flash! Aika gasped and flung her mace up, just barely blocking the lizard's counterattack. She howled in panic as the lizard came at her again and again, dodging and ducking around her attacks and driving her back relentlessly.

"I must've pissed it off, breaking it gun like that!" she exclaimed, fear starting to build. She lashed out desperately with her club—and the end of it grazed the lizard's arm just as it swung for another blow! The pilot screeched in fury and its own attack hit its mark. The metal baton smashed into her Ganmen's flank with crushing strength, knocking her off balance. She shrieked in shock as her Ganmen tilted and toppled, crashing to the ground.

"Ugh, mecha! Why can't you be as tall as that four-armed one? Damn these stupid, stubby legs," she groaned as she fought to roll the mecha back onto its feet. The lizard loomed over her, cackling wildly as it raised its foot over the hand that gripped her Ganmen's mace—

And then a massive fist plowed into the side of the lizard's head! She knew that battered, scraped-up, dark green fist out of any Ganmen in the world. The lizard pilot screamed as its mecha staggered sideways and fell to one knee, barely bracing itself on its free hand.

"Thanks, Minako!" Aika yelled. "You saved my arm!"

"Well, we don't want to make too much work for the techs, do we?" Minako replied. Aika could picture the thin smile on Minako's face as her voice echoed over the external communications channel.

"You… you damn naked apes! Where's your sense of honor, huh?!" the lizard yowled. "What're you thinking, butting in on someone else's fight?!"

"Honor? Honor?!" Minako echoed, voice boiling with rage. "You should've thought about that before you tried to steal our food!" Her Ganmen's fists clenched tight. The lizard heaved itself back to its feet, sparks flying from the busted panel on the side of its head, and then threw its snout back and let out a piercing whistle. Aika winced, fighting the urge to let go of her control handles and cover her ears.

"You idiot!" She shouted at the lizard. "What are you—" She broke off with another gasp as she suddenly figured out what it was after. Another one of the lizards had broken away from picking on Shoji and came sprinting towards them… directly at Minako's back!

"Minako, watch out!" Aika shouted. Her friend spun about and brought her mecha's arms up to block, just as the Ganmen plowed into her! It drove its shoulder towards her mecha's midsection, shoving Minako back until her Ganmen collided with Aika's. She screeched, pulling back on her controls as she fought to keep them both from going over.

"Aaagh!" Minako yelled. She shoved back against the enemy Ganmen with everything she had. "Aika, give me a push!"

"Y-yeah!" Aika gasped. She planted her Ganmen's feet against the ground, desperate to stop their backward slide. Her hands ached, the controls rattled, her Ganmen's limbs groaned under the strain. But they slowed, and stopped! Aika sucked in a shaky breath, reaching for all the energy she could summon, and she thrust the controls forward! "Hyaaaaah!" she screamed.

Minako's Ganmen launched itself off her mecha's hands and took the lizard-type with it, but Aika didn't have time to see what happened next—a furious howl behind her made her spin about, just as the lizard-type she'd been dueling came at her again! She yelped and grabbed for her mace, snatching it up from where it had fallen when Minako's Ganmen had plowed into hers. She whirled and brought it up just in time to block the lizard's blow. Her heart was pounding against her ribs, and there was so much adrenaline mixed with her terror that she couldn't tell which was which. Her grip on the control handles was so tight that she couldn't have let go even if she'd wanted to.

An explosion behind her mecha sent a jolt of horror right through her. "Minako!" she yelled. The reply she got was a hoarse, thrilled whoop.

"That got 'im!" Minako shouted. Aika heaved a sigh of relief. She dared to take a quick look around the battlefield: Shoji was going hand-to-hand with one of the other lizards and that four-armed Ganmen was keeping that lizard leader of theirs busy.

Then her enemy came back at her, club lifted high, and there was no more time to watch anything but her own neck.

* * *

><p>They locked blades again. Atop Waru's head, red rays of light started to gather in the particle beam's focusing lens. Viral saw it and cursed under his breath; not even Enkidudu's blast shield could withstand a direct hit from such a weapon. He'd survive, of course, but his Ganmen sure as hell wouldn't, and he couldn't allow that to happen. Viral twisted his swords free and Enkidudu leaped aside. The particle beam fired with a blinding flash of light and a thunderous <em>bang.<em> The beam lanced into the ground where Viral had been standing, shaking the battlefield and filling his ears with its roar. He snarled out a very thorough string of swears as his Ganmen lurched over the shuddering ground—his steady hand kept the machine upright.

"What's with you, Koji? Don't you trust your blade?" sneered Viral. "You're so out of practice that you bring your particle beam into a fight like this!"

"Shut up, traitor! Even dying like a mongrel is too good for you! I'll pry you out of that cockpit and snap your neck with my bare hands!" Koji bellowed. Viral laughed hard at that one.

Waru came charging through the smoke, sword held high again. Viral's left-hand swords flew up in a parry. This time, Koji turned to his arsenal for help. A rocket launcher popped up from Waru's left shoulder and fired a volley of three missiles. The first one met with Enkidudu's blast shield, he dodged the second—and then Viral was just a second too slow. The third missile struck a glancing blow to Enkidudu's left leg. Sparks flew from it as it started to buckle. Viral's Ganmen staggered back a step.

"Damn!" he hissed. And in that momentary weakness, Waru's particle beam started up again.

* * *

><p>Aika broke away from the lizard mecha again, backing up a few paces. She was breathing hard and drenched with sweat. "I don't think I can keep going much longer," she gasped.<p>

A blinding red flash lit up her viewscreens—and a split second later, a deafening roar filled the air and the ground heaved terrifyingly. Shrieking, Aika ducked her head and jerked her controls back in shock, staggering backwards. When the blast cleared, she glanced back through her rear viewscreen. It was that four-armed Ganmen! Sparks were flying from its busted-up left leg as it hobbled back. The fancy lizard-Ganmen loomed before it, red lights gathering in the ring above its helmet.

"W-what the hell kind of weapon is that?!" she exclaimed, horrified.

"Hah! Check it out, human—that's the might of a particle beam!" crowed her enemy. Well, particle beam or not, the four-armed Ganmen was right in its line of fire.

"Aw, damn it!" she yelled. They were about to lose their new ally! They needed that one to make the odds a little less uneven. _Well, he's helped us this far, I can't just sit here and let him get blown to bits!_ she thought. With her mind made up, Aika gathered up a bit more energy, whirled her Ganmen around, and ran off.

"Hey! _Hey!_ Get back here! I'm not done kicking your ass!" screamed the lizard-type behind her. Aika ignored him and charged.

* * *

><p>Enkidudu limped backwards, but it was a wasted effort. The left leg wasn't completely destroyed, but it wouldn't last long. It was all Viral could do to keep the Ganmen upright. He glared at Waru's focusing lens. In his three years of wandering, he'd been shot, stabbed, drowned, and very nearly decapitated; he wondered what dying would be like this time, blasted with a particle beam.<p>

"I'm sorry, Enkidudu," he murmured, gritting his teeth.

"_HYAAAAAAAAAAA!_" Viral's head jerked up at the yell coming from his right. It was the bull-type Ganmen hurtling towards them, waving its club above its head!

Koji looked sideways, as well, and laughed cruelly. "You can't be serio— _AAGH!_" The club smashed across Waru's abdomen, knocking the reptile mecha backwards. Waru's knees buckled, the Ganmen bending over double from the force of the swing, right as the particle beam fired. The beam exploded against the earth, lighting up the battlefield with its flash. The shockwave from it sent them all reeling and Viral just barely managed to keep Enkidudu from toppling over. The bull Ganmen endured the blast and regained its balance—no easy feat with its bulky, top-heavy build—and looked at its handiwork.

"I… I can't believe that worked!" exclaimed the bull Ganmen. Its pilot's voice sounded female. It stood awkwardly above the fallen Waru, its club still extended.

"You impudent monkey!" Koji wailed. Waru raised itself up on wobbling arms.

Viral chuckled. "It seems I'm the only one who's stopped underestimating these naked apes," he said to himself. Then, to the bull Ganmen, he said, "Not bad, human! You've given me just the opening I needed."

"No problem!" replied the bull Ganmen. "Hey, um, are you going to be okay, there? That leg doesn't look like it'll hold up…"

"Go help your humans," Viral told her. "I only need one leg to finish off this pathetic wretch."

"Uh, okay? S-sure." The bull Ganmen turned and dashed back to fight the rest.

Viral pulled his faltering Ganmen upright, swords held firm. "Get up, Koji," Viral snapped. "Let's finish this now!"

"Y-you're insane! Your Ganmen can't even walk now! Why can't you just give it up?!" Koji yelled. Waru clambered to its feet and lifted its sword once more. The Ganmen charged and Viral braced Enkidudu, his teeth gritted. He blocked with his left-hand swords as their blades met again. Enkidudu strained under the force of the blow but Viral kept his Ganmen standing. He swept upward with the right-hand blades, knocking the broadsword away—and his blades hit the focusing lens with a ringing crash, shattering it in a shower of twisted metal fragments.

Koji's mecha fell back, its sword hesitating. The blade rose again for a moment… and then dropped. "To hell with this. It just isn't worth it!" Koji yelled. Waru whirled around and ran for it. "Let's get out of here!" The former commander and his three remaining cronies fled like their tails were on fire. Viral glared disdainfully at his opponent's retreating backs.

"Haha, lookit 'em go!" crowed the human-piloted canine Ganmen. An explosive cheer went up from the humans gathered within the village entrance. Nearby, the bull-type mecha hollered and waved its club in the air.

"Figures they'd be cowards," said the ape-type Ganmen's pilot. The mecha aimed a rude gesture at the fleeing figures. "Don't you furball bastards even _think_ about coming back here!"

Viral snorted and secured Enkidudu's swords. Then, with a loud grinding noise and another shower of sparks, the Ganmen's leg gave way. There was no holding it upright anymore. He swore again as he gripped the controls, trying to lower the Ganmen down as carefully as he could. It thudded to the ground in a cloud of dust.

"Oi!" The bull-type Ganmen bounded over. It leaned over Enkidudu's cockpit, sunlight glinting off its red paint. "That leg finally quit, huh?"

"No, it's just that my Ganmen enjoys bathing in dirt after a battle," he said crossly. "Of course it quit."

"Well, let's get you and your mecha back to the village. We got some tools and stuff, you might be able to fix it up there," the pilot offered.

"No. Leave me be, I'll manage on my own," he said right away. Anything would be better than taking their help and being indebted to a bunch of naked apes.

"Uh, you sure about that?" the pilot asked dubiously. "That thing looks, um, severely ruined to me. I've seen wrecked Ganmen parts before and that looks pretty wrecked."

Viral didn't answer; instead, he shoved the control handles, trying to coax Enkidudu back to its feet, but the mecha just groaned and shuddered. After fighting with the controls for a tense minute, the Ganmen propped itself up on three of its four arms, but could move no further. Defeated, he lowered it back down with a harsh, frustrated snarl.

"Look, just let us bring you back to the village, okay? You're obviously not going anywhere on that leg—I'm pretty sure Ganmen don't run on pride," she said. Viral rolled his eyes at the teasing tone in her voice. She sounded far too pleased with herself for that line.

"I have a toolkit in here. Leave me to it," he said through gritted teeth.

"Um, okay. If you're that sure about it," the human said hesitantly. She turned her Ganmen around and disappeared from his line of sight. He waited a few minutes for the humans to leave, until he could no longer hear the dull thuds of the three Ganmen's heavy steps. Then he dug his toolkit out from beneath the pilot's chair, popped the cockpit's hatch and clambered out, scrambling down to the ground and striding over to his mecha's legs. The damage was just as bad as he'd thought, but not beyond repair.

"Damn," he growled. This wouldn't be easy, but he'd find a way to make it work.

* * *

><p>Back in the launch cave, Aika guided her Ganmen to one of the three scaffolding towers set up inside. Her hands shook on the controls as she shut the mecha down. It's over… we made it! she thought deliriously. Grinning, she popped her mecha's hatch open and whooped at the top of her lungs. Laughing breathlessly, she slid out from between the Ganmen's huge teeth and stood on legs that were still trembling a little from the pumping adrenaline. Her foot caught and she stumbled, but one of their mechanics grabbed her arm.<p>

"Thanks, Chiyo!" she giggled. The red-eyed woman smiled and shrugged.

"Hey, someone's got to make sure you don't end up dying right after living through a battle," Chiyo teased.

"Glad to know you've got my back," Aika shot back, beaming. "Or my arm, I guess." She grinned cheekily and wiggled her fingers. Chiyo chuckled and let go.

"You did good out there, Aika," she said. "I think you're really getting better at piloting this thing!"

"Thanks, buddy," she replied. Aika turned back and fondly patted the nearest tooth in her Ganmen's oversized snout. "Well done, Ganmen! Thanks for keeping me alive," she said. Then she spun around and threw her fists up. "We did it!" she yelled, her voice echoing through the launch cave. A cheer went up from everyone else. She sighed happily and stepped over a toolbox, leaned against the rail of the scaffolding. Lifting a hand, she brushed her sweat-slicked bangs back from her forehead, wishing wistfully that it wasn't always so warm in the launch cave.

The sound of more voices grabbed her attention and she spotted a crowd of people pouring into the cavern from the mouth of the tunnel. She laughed and climbed down the scaffolding, running over to them. Minako and Shoji were already there, waving and yelling to their friends and families. The villagers gathered around her and her two fellow pilots, shaking their hands, clapping them on the back. Joyful chattering filled the cramped cavern, echoing around them. Two people in particular sidled to the front of the crowd and Aika squealed in joy, sprinting to them.

"Mom! Dad!" she squealed. They both pulled her into a tight hug and she nestled happily into their arms.

"We're so proud of you, darling!" said Seiji, her father.

"You guys were watching the battle?" Aika asked, surprised.

"We were—although it wasn't an easy thing to see," said Kaede, her mother. She shuddered and hugged her daughter even tighter.

"Well, it all turned out for the best! I mean, we're still alive and everything like that, haha!" Aika said reassuringly.

"I suppose that's true!" Seiji agreed.

"Yes, and it's a lucky thing that the four-armed mecha arrived when it did! Speaking of that, where is the pilot? He didn't come back here with you, Shoji, and Minako?" asked Kaede.

"Nah, I said we could bring his mecha back here to fix it up but he said he didn't want our help!" Aika told them, gesturing widely. "That's kinda weird, right? I mean, I think it's weird." Her parents didn't have a chance to tell her what they thought of it because the elderly village leader, Katashi, hobbled over from where he'd been talking to Minako and gave Aika a brisk hug.

"Well done, Aika! All three of you were fantastic. You have done a wonderful thing for our village," he said, his strong voice contrasting like always with his thin, frail looks.

"Thank you, Katashi!" Aika said, squaring her shoulders and beaming with pride.

"I'm sure you three and the mechanics have a lot of work you'd like to get done," Katashi said, "So we'll let you get down to it. But when you're done, come to the Great Cavern. I believe a celebration would be appreciated on a day like this!"

Aika grinned widely. "Yes, sir!" she agreed, then bounded off to join Chiyo in looking over her Ganmen.

* * *

><p>After working on the repairs for the rest of the afternoon, Aika and the rest of the Ganmen crew left the launch cave, sweaty and tired. They were headed off to the Great Cavern—a huge, bowl-shaped cave with a high, domed ceiling right in the heart of the village. When they'd first moved up to the surface, this was the first cave that their diggers had found. The diggers had come up through the very middle of the floor and opened up a passage for the rest of the villagers to come through. The hole was covered up with a big slab of rock now; it was the same slab that they'd cut to make the first door from their underground homes to the outside world.<p>

"Whew! I hope there's no more Beastmen planning on attacking us soon. Some of those repairs are gonna take a while!" sighed another mechanic, Misaki. She scrubbed at her damp forehead with the back of her sleeve.

"Let's hope no more Beastmen are planning on attacking us at all," Shoji added, wincing.

"Yeah, no kidding!" agreed Aika. Then she paused, thought for a moment, and added, "Or maybe it'd be kinda okay if some really weak ones attacked us next, I guess that wouldn't be so bad." Shoji shot her an odd look.

Finally, they arrived at the Great Cavern. This was where all the big stuff happened: celebrating births, mourning deaths, eating meals prepared for special occasions—and ever since they'd come up to the surface, it was where they'd celebrated all of their few but proud victories over all the jerks that came along to try to stomp them back down. Everyone was there already; literally, everyone. The entire village had turned out for this party, and every single one of them started cheering as the three pilots and the mechanics walked in. Aika and the rest of the Ganmen team waved to their fellow villagers as they walked in.

"Thank you, everyone! Thank you so much!" Aika yelled, waving with both hands.

"I gotta admit, this part of the fighting is pretty nice," Shoji said to her as he waved enthusiastically. They made their way between the wooden tables until they reached the middle, where Katashi had saved a spot of honor for them at a table right in front of the rock slab. He gestured for them to come up and stand next to him. Once the whole team had taken their places around their leader, Katashi held up his hands for the rest of the village to be quiet. They hushed up quickly and all eyes turned to look at him. Katashi gazed around solemnly at all of Hajime's people before he started to talk.

"Today," he said slowly, "Hajime Village faced another great peril. It's true that we have been in the path of danger before, but we have always survived. And more than that, we have always won!" The crowd cheered again and he paused to let them get it all out. Then he raised his chin and shouted, "And today, we won again!" The villagers' roaring and hollering echoed off the walls and filled the cavern all the way up to the top. Aika puffed up with pride at hearing it all, thrilled to have earned her village's praise. Katashi waited with a knowing smile for the overjoyed yells to die down. It took a couple minutes but finally he could keep going.

"It's also true that we had help from a stranger today," he said. "But it's our pilots that step up to protect us, every time! It was our own Minako who destroyed one of the enemies today! And it was our Aika who saved the stranger from being destroyed himself!" Aika beamed and blushed. She didn't think that anyone would have noticed that in all the chaos of the fight! Katashi waved for silence again and declared, "Now, let's all enjoy this delicious meal and be happy, everyone!" One last round of wild cheers went up and the Ganmen team joined in loudest of all.

* * *

><p>Life went back to normal the next morning, and Hajime Village picked up from where the attack had interrupted their day previously. Everyone went back to their tasks—and for Aika, that meant finishing up her shift on kitchen duty.<p>

"So much for a Ganmen pilot's glamorous life!" she groaned as she and the others faced the massive pile of dishes from breakfast.

"Oi, you can't be shooting Beastmen in the face all day long! You gotta get your hands soapy just like the rest of us," jibed Naoki, a fellow dish-cleaner.

"Yeah, sorry, Aika—this isn't the Dai-Gurren Brigade!" chimed in Norio from her left.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just get this finished," Aika sighed, picking up a scrubbing rag. Her heart panged wistfully at the mention of the Dai-Gurren Brigade, and her mind wandered a bit, far away from the humid cavern to a different life entirely.

After lunch that day, she saw she'd been put on guard duty. _That's a little bit better, anyway,_ she thought in relief. _At least I get to be outdoors!_ The watchtower was a new thing, obviously. They'd hacked it into the side of the cliff above the village's entrance following their first Beastman attack after coming to the surface. It was basically a little room carved into the rock, with big, open windows on three sides and big scoops dug out of the cliff on both sides of it so they could see to the left and right. There usually wasn't much to do on guard duty, but being in the open air was always a welcome change from hanging around inside the village all day long. A warm breeze blew across her face as she stepped out into the watchtower. She smiled and breathed deep, stretching her arms out. The previous guard, who was standing over in the corner, turned around and nodded at her.

"Yo, Jun," she said, patting him on the shoulder. "I'm here to take over for ya! Anything interesting happening out there? I mean, there normally isn't, and when there is it's always something bad coming our way, but you never know…"

The older man just shook his head, his thick eyebrows pulled into a frown, and pointed out at the rocky plain that stretched out away from the village. It was totally deserted… except for a huge lump of shining, white metal off to the left. Aika squinted at it and then her eyes widened.

"Hah?! What the—Is that the four-armed Ganmen?" she spluttered. "Hey, gimme that scope!" She grabbed the pieced-together telescope that Jun handed her, lifting it to her eye and peering out at the metal heap. "I don't believe it… he's been there since yesterday?"

"Could be that he took off walking, left the Ganmen there," Jun pointed out.

"Hmm, I dunno… That's pretty far to walk," Aika mumbled, still peering through the telescope. Then she spotted movement on top of the toppled mecha; there was someone walking around on top of it. "I think that's the pilot over there!"

"Hm? You think so?" Jun rubbed his bearded chin in thought. "Might also be someone picking it over—raiding it, I guess."

"Yeah, maybe." Then she paused, thinking of something. "Wait, did anybody see any raiders come by here?"

"Not that I know of," Jun said with a shrug.

"They see, uh… well, _anybody_ at all, actually?"

"No," Jun admitted. "As much as I know, there've been no raider caravans through here in the past three weeks."

"Then it's gotta be the pilot! Think someone oughta go out there and take a look?" Aika asked. "Maybe there's something we can do to help."

"Better not risk it yet. Wait till tomorrow," he advised.

"I guess so, yeah. Okay, well, I can handle it from here, Jun. You can go back inside," she said, smiling. Jun nodded silently and ducked into the spiraling tunnel leading down from the watchtower. Aika settled in, leaning on the stone wall surrounding the watchtower and enjoying the breeze.

* * *

><p><em>One day later…<em>

Aika sighed happily as she walked to breakfast that morning. She had no duties that morning! Everyone in the village got a few hours of free time each day to do whatever they wanted, so this time was totally hers. As she ate her meal, she thought carefully about what she was going to do with her precious free time. Her mind wandered back to the four-armed Ganmen. _Is it still out there? _she wondered._ Maybe I'll go and take a peek, just to help my curiosity… If the pilot really is gone, maybe we can salvage some parts. Chiyo would love that._ Once she'd finished eating and given her dishes back to the kitchen, she jogged back to the village entrance and hurried up the long, narrow tunnel to the watchtower. Shoji was up there, just starting his shift.

"Yo, Aika," he said, smiling.

"Hey there, Shoji! How're you on this morning?" she replied, returning the smile.

"I'm okay, but, uh…" He nodded towards the window and she stepped over, looking through it.

Sure enough, there was the same massive bulk of white metal, right where it'd been the day before. She seized the telescope out of Shoji's hands to take a better look. Just like the day before, she could see the small shape that might be the pilot walking around next to the Ganmen. "He's still here?!" she exclaimed. She stared through the scope again. "This is just getting silly. I know he said he didn't want our help, but this is ridiculous! He's gotta be running out of food or water by now, at least! I'm going out there," she declared.

"Wh-what? Are you sure that's a good idea?" Shoji asked, going slightly pale. "You don't know what's going on with that thing!"

"I know there's somebody over there," Aika pointed out.

"Yeah, but it could be anybody! It could be raiders, or—or if it's the pilot, he might not be on our side anymore!" Shoji protested.

"But nobody's seen any raiders pass by since that one caravan three weeks ago," she said. "It's no good having that thing just sitting out there in front of our village! And besides, next time some raiders _do_ come this way, seeing a busted Ganmen like _that_ will bring them in for sure! And you heard what Misaki said, our Ganmen aren't ready for another fight yet."

"Yeah, but…" Shoji protested uneasily.

"_And_," Aika went on smugly, sure of her imminent victory, "If he abandoned that thing, don't we want first choice of its parts before any raiders get here?"

Shoji thought about it and sighed. "Okay, if you really gotta go out there, then at least take your Ganmen. Even if it's not ready for a fight, it can still run away faster than One-Leg over there," he mumbled.

"Okay, you got it, Shoji!" Aika said. She bounded off down the tunnel and off towards the launch cave. On the way there, she grabbed the handheld communicator clipped to her purple belt—everyone in the village had one, thanks to some officials from Kamina City about a year back—and called up Katashi, figuring she should at least get permission to go out there first. When she got to the cave and told Chiyo what she was going to do, her friend had just one thing to say to her.

"You're crazy!" she exclaimed as Aika scrambled up into the cockpit. "Just leave it alone, Aika. You already offered some help the other day and he didn't want it."

"Sure, but that was two days ago, and he did help us win that fight. Besides, if we let him use our tools, maybe he'll tell us how to fix our Ganmen better! He's gotta know a lot about them." Aika said, adjusting her seat and taking the control grips. Chiyo's eyes got a familiar sparkle in them as she thought about that.

"Hmm… I guess it couldn't hurt to have a talk with someone who has more experience with these things," she said, tapping her fingers against her chin.

"Exactly!" Aika agreed, shutting the cockpit. "Okay, here we go!" She fired up her Ganmen and marched out of the launch cave.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 1 Part 2, coming right up!<strong>


	3. Chapter 1 Part 2

**CHAPTER 1 PART 2—GOOD LUCK, NAKED APE! **

Viral growled at the painfully inadequate toolkit sitting on the ground next to him, glaring malevolently at the tools that it contained and swearing at each and every one individually. He'd been out there on the plains in front of Hajime Village for nearly two days and Enkidudu was no closer to getting up off the ground. He'd known that his tools wouldn't be enough to repair it entirely, but he'd hoped to at least get the Ganmen on its feet so he could limp to the nearest Beastman settlement. He sat back on his heels and stared at the twisted metal and circuitry before him, forehead furrowed in a deep scowl.

Just then, the heavy, clanking tread of a Ganmen caught his sensitive ears. He was on his feet in a flash, one hand beneath his cloak on the handle of his cleaver. Peering across the plain, he spotted a garishly red mecha coming towards him from the direction of Hajime Village. It was the same bull-type from the battle, he realized. There was no mistaking that eye-bleeding shade of red.

"Hnh! What does this human want?" he muttered to himself. Deciding that it was better to avoid potentially being recognized for the time being (more for his own convenience than anything else) he climbed back into Enkidudu's cockpit and shut the hatch. The communications channels were still functioning, at least. When the bull-type reached him, it stopped a short distance away.

"Uh… hi?" its pilot said awkwardly over her external communications. "Remember me from the, uh, battle? From a couple days ago?"

"Yes, I remember," he said in a low voice. Oh yes, he certainly did remember. Annoyingly enough, he still owed this naked ape a debt of gratitude for defending his Ganmen against Koji's particle beam. He'd never been one to forget his debts. Granted, he'd never had occasion to be grateful to a human, but in this strange new world after Lordgenome's army, he'd figured that the principle still applied. "Why are you here?"

"Well, I know you said before that you wanted to fix this Ganmen on your own, but, um, it's been almost two days and it doesn't look very fixed to me—I mean, I hope you don't mind me saying that, but it _is_ just sort of lying there on the ground—" she said, her words spilling out more quickly as she started to ramble on.

"As I said before, I don't want help," Viral told her flatly.

"You gotta be kidding me! Look, don't be an idiot. Sorry for saying it but you're obviously not going anywhere!" she exclaimed. "And also, we can't let you stay out here forever. If some raiders come by here, a big, fancy Ganmen like this sitting around helpless is gonna be too much for them to say no to! And I asked our leader about that and he agrees with me, too, so I'm not just saying that out of nowhere!" she added defensively.

That gave Viral a moment's pause. She was right, unfortunately. Bands of scavengers wandered the wilderness now, harassing lone travelers, occasionally attacking some of the smaller settlements, and picking off those whose luck had turned against them. It was true that Enkidudu's weapons systems were still mostly intact, but he'd make an easy target from this position on the ground. He hated the thought of losing his Ganmen for good—and to loutish scavengers, no less! And, even more annoyingly, she was right about something else, too: he was never going to get Enkidudu off the ground on his own. He needed better tools, which these humans apparently had, although he couldn't have said how that had come to be (although he had a few good guesses).

"All right," he muttered grudgingly, squeezing his eyelids shut and letting his head fall back on the headrest. "I'll take your help."

"Great!" said the bull-type, pumping its fists in the air. "Just hold on, I'm gonna call the others to help me carry you back." The bull-type vanished from sight, its footsteps fading out. He sat in silence, arms crossed tightly over his chest, as he waited. Eventually, Viral heard the clanking of metal as the other two Ganmen joined the bull-type one. It was humiliating, needing to be hauled off the battlefield by humans, but Viral restrained his pride. He wasn't one to act ungrateful, no matter how much it bruised his ego. Soldiers of Teppelin were taught better than that. He'd even afforded Kamina some courtesy once. He kept his mouth shut while the human pilots hoisted Enkidudu up and began lugging the fallen Ganmen back towards Hajime Village.

The humans brought Enkidudu down the same narrow side canyon that their own mechas had emerged from during the battle. At the end of the canyon was the mouth of a large cave. The humans set Enkidudu down.

"We can't fit your Ganmen into the cave with ours," the pilot of the canine-type told him. "Just wait here a few minutes." The three Ganmen turned and disappeared into the cave.

Viral popped the hatch of Enkidudu's cockpit and climbed out, dropping to the ground. He looked up at the gleaming, silvery-gray metal and laid a clawed hand on the damaged leg.

"Immortality is making me reckless, eh, Enkidudu?" he murmured. He chuckled dryly and patted the Ganmen. "I'd better go and see what tools these naked apes have." With one last pat, he spun away from the Ganmen and strode towards the cave.

Inside the cave, he found his senses bombarded—sweat and engine grease filled his nose, chatter and clanging metal echoed around him. Inside the cave was a jumble of machines and Ganmen repair tech and scattered tools, all in varying stages of disrepair. Pieced-together metal scaffolding surrounded the three mechas. He could see a few technicians here and there amidst the scaffolding, still working on assessing the damage from the fight. Really, it seemed like any other Ganmen hangar—only less advanced and not even nearly as well organized. His upper lip pulled back slightly as his nose twitched from the barrage of smells.

Reminding himself of his task, Viral's eyes sought out the red bull-type Ganmen, standing in the middle of the cave; he couldn't ignore that he owed his gratitude to that one in particular. _Best to get this over with quickly,_ he thought with a grimace.

* * *

><p>Aika hopped out of her Ganmen after returning to the launch cave. Chiyo was there, waiting for her.<p>

"So? What happened?" she asked.

"Oh, I talked some sense into him," Aika said proudly, lacing her fingers together and popping her knuckles. "As if I couldn't do it! He's a stubborn ol' jerk though, haha!"

"Yeah, I'm sure. Sitting out there for two days," Chiyo replied, shaking her head. Aika scurried over to the edge of the scaffolding and looked down below at the busy cave. After a few minutes, she spotted someone new by the mouth of the cave. From up in the scaffolding, all she could see was a tangled mess of short, blond hair and a ragged, tan cloak.

"That must be the pilot!" she said. She leaned a bit further over the scaffolding, watching him. He strode right into the cave without any hesitation. Aika chortled and nudged Chiyo with her elbow. "Look at him, already walking around like he owns everything in sight," she commented. The pilot paused for a moment, head turning this way and that as he looked around, and then he started walking towards her Ganmen. "Oho, he's headed this way. I'd better go and say hello!" Aika climbed down from the scaffolding and jogged towards the pilot.

* * *

><p>Viral stopped in his tracks as the human female bounded over to him. She grinned from ear to ear as she skidded to a stop in front of him, standing much too close for his liking. Her bright blue eyes were glittering excitedly.<p>

"Yo!" she said. "You're the pilot of the four-armed mecha, right?"

"Yes," he replied, crossing his arms over his chest. She jerked back slightly as her eyes darted to his hands.

"O-oh, heh, sorry. I wasn't expecting the, uh… the claws," she said with a sheepish laugh. "We don't get to meet many Beastmen in person, you see. We mostly just, y'know, fight them…?" He narrowed his eyes at her, waiting for her to get to the point. She cleared her throat and went on, undeterred. "Anyway, I'm Aika! That's my Ganmen, back there." She pointed her thumb back over her shoulder at the bull-type mecha.

"Yes, I know," he replied curtly. Then he quickly reminded himself of his manners. She'd done nothing to merit any rudeness. "I'm Viral."

"It's nice to meet you, Viral!" she said. He tilted his head, taken aback. She genuinely seemed happy to meet him. Cheerful was a trait humans seemed to have in abundance, but it wasn't often directed at him. He took a second to assess this particular specimen of humanity: she didn't look too different from any of the other villagers hanging around; she was light-skinned, with black hair twisted up at the back of her head and a few spikes of it hanging over her forehead. Her height seemed about average. Her clothing was downright modest compared to what some of them ran around wearing. All in all, there didn't appear to be anything unusual about her—aside from her rampant cheerfulness. He decided to chalk it up to the natural oddness of naked apes.

She leaned to the side and waved to someone behind him, beckoning to whoever it was. He turned and saw two more humans approaching. One was a short, pudgy male with brown hair; the other was a solidly-built woman of about thirty years. Her dark eyes regarded him warily, and the man definitely looked nervous. Ah, yes, now _that _was the reaction he was used to getting from naked apes.

Aika gestured to the two humans. "That's Shoji over there," she said, pointing to the frightened man, "And that's Minako." The wary woman gave Viral a stiff nod, which he returned.

"Not bad, for amateurs," Viral commented. As a pilot, he felt compelled to give them credit where it was due.

"What're you talking about?" asked Minako, her voice cold.

"In the battle, you held your own reasonably well for amateurs," he explained, his voice flat.

"And just who says that we're amateurs?" Minako said.

"It was easy to see. A trained eye can tell these things," Viral shot back. Minako glowered at him.

"If you'll all excuse me, I need to get back to my repairs," she said to the other two humans. And with that, she whirled about and stalked away. He snorted and decided to ignore her.

"Aw, Minako, don't be so sour!" Aika called after her. The other woman seemed determined not to share Aika's enthusiasm, though, so the younger woman laughed awkwardly and turned back to him. "_So!_ Uh. Thanks for your help the other day—those guys would've flattened us otherwise. Especially the one with that beam thing," she said. She put her fingertip to her forehead and then thrust it outward in an imitation of the particle beam. "I've never, ever seen a weapon like that before on a Ganmen!"

"Y-yeah," added Shoji. Viral glanced sideways at the male, who shrank back. Well, at least now he could dispense with what needed to be said.

"I owe you my thanks as well," he said reluctantly, addressing Aika. "That charge was reckless, but it spared me an embarrassing defeat at that coward's hands."

Aika beamed widely. "Aw, thanks! It wasn't anything that difficult, really," she said, more than a hint of bravado in her voice. Just then, another set of footsteps drew his attention. He turned to see a rail-thin old man limping towards them from the mouth of the tunnel at the back of the cave. The man's blue robe was decorated with all sorts of random trinkets, and he had a beard that went nearly past his waist.

"You're the leader of this village?" Viral guessed.

"Yep, that's him!" Aika interjected. "I had to let him know we were bringing you in here."

"Yes, that's right," the old man agreed. "My name is Katashi. As Hajime Village's leader, I'd like to thank you, for all of us, for intervening on our behalf."

Viral held back a snort—he hadn't done it to be a hero, nor had he done it out of fondness for the humans. But, again, he reminded himself of his manners. "It was no trouble," he said evenly. "All I ask in return is time and tools to repair my Ganmen."

"Yes, of course," agreed Katashi. "Please feel free to use whatever we have. And you're welcome to join us for meals as well."

"Your generosity is appreciated," Viral said uncomfortably. There it was again—kindness from humans. What was he supposed to do with that?

With the help of the Hajime mechanics, Viral found some of the equipment and parts he'd need for Enkidudu's repairs. Their tool selection was still lacking, however, so he'd have to make do with some temporary measures until he could get to an outpost and make proper repairs. He spent the entire afternoon wrapped up in his work. In fact, he was so focused on it that he didn't even notice the sun setting until it was already dark. Luckily, the villagers had installed exterior floodlights in the canyon. He kept going, shutting out all else.

* * *

><p>Inside the launch cave, Aika went back to work on her own repairs. When it came to her mecha, she always helped the mechanics do their work—or at least, she did as much as she could. Most of this stuff just went through her ears like mist. Dinnertime came around and she set down her tools with a relieved sigh.<p>

"Perfect timing; I'm starved!" she commented to Chiyo. "I wonder what we're having tonight."

"Probably the same thing we had last night," her friend replied, shaking her head.

"Hmm, I guess so." Aika paused in mid-step. "You go ahead, Chiyo. I'm gonna go see if Viral wants to come with us." She jogged back to the mouth of the cave and out into the warm evening air. The beaten-up hulk of the four-armed Ganmen sat by the cave mouth, lit up by the floodlights. Aika followed the whirr and buzz of machinery towards the mecha's legs. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted over the noise. "Oi! _OI!_" The noise stopped and the Beastman stuck his head up over the mecha's leg.

"What?" he asked. His one visible eye was narrowed in annoyance at being interrupted. The eye reflected an eerie gold color in the bright lights. It was a little bit unnerving, but Aika tried not to let it show.

"Dinner's ready, we're all headed off to the dining hall. You can come with us, if you want," Aika said.

"No, I will stay here."

"Really? Are you sure?" Aika asked.

"Yes. I have work to do," he said firmly.

"Wow…" _How can he not be hungry after all this time?! _she wondered incredulously. "I mean, I don't know about you, but I've always got a huge appetite after working hard."

"Go and eat, then," he suggested flatly.

"Okay. See you later," Aika said, puzzled. He ducked back down behind the Ganmen's leg and the machines started up again. Aika shot one last confused glance his way before heading back into the cave.

Sure enough, dinner that night was the same thing as the night before—pig-mole stew with slices of bread that were a little on the stale side. Aika took her tray of food and water and went to join her friends. She spotted Chiyo sitting with a few other people and darted over to them.

"What's-his-name's not joining us?" Chiyo asked as Aika sat down.

"Nope! He said he wanted to keep working—which is weird, if you ask me. He's been sitting out there for two days with whatever food he had around, and then he was working his ass off in the sun all afternoon… if it was me, I'd be falling over from hunger by now!" Aika said, tearing off a mouthful of bread to prove her point.

"Maybe he just doesn't like crowds," mused Chiyo.

"Or humans," Naoki, who was sitting to her right, added derisively.

Aika thought about this as she chewed her bread. "Ya know, Chiyo, you're right," she decided. She grinned and stood up with her tray. "I'll bring the food to him, then!"

"Bad idea!" Naoki called after her. "He might decide to eat _you_ instead!"

"Rude!" she yelled back over her shoulder. She got a second tray of food and, balancing both in her hands, she hurried back to the launch cave.

* * *

><p>Viral glanced upward at the sound of a now-familiar voice calling out to him. Sure enough, it was Aika again. But this time, she had two metal trays in her hands.<p>

"I brought dinner!" she announced. "I know you have to be hungry, even if you don't feel like eating with us." He hated to admit it, but she was right. His stomach growled at the savory smell wafting from the bowls on the trays. Viral set down his tools and padded away from the mecha, keeping his eyes on the human. She sat down on the ground next to Enkidudu, putting one of the trays down a couple feet away and promptly digging into the food on the other one. Clearly she didn't plan on leaving any time soon. Resigning himself to dine with a human, Viral sat down across from her and picked up the bowl of stew, sniffing it.

"Don't worry, it's not poisoned or anything," Aika said jokingly.

"Hnh!" He hadn't been too worried about that, anyway. As human eating utensils were much too small for his hands, he had to awkwardly grip the spoon between two fingers. The stew itself was not bad, although the herbs in it overpowered the taste of the meat. "You didn't have to bring me this," he pointed out after a minute of silence.

"No problem! It's the least I could do, since you risked your life for us and all," Aika replied brightly.

"My life was never in danger," he replied with a dismissive shake of his head.

She paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth, which gaped open in shock. "What do you mean, 'never in danger'?" she asked. "That other guy was gonna blast you with that… that beam thing! There would've been nothing left of ya but a smoking crater in the ground!"

"It's true that my Ganmen would have been destroyed, but I would have survived. I can't be killed," he said simply.

Aika gaped at him again and then burst out laughing. "Haha! Can't be killed—that's a good one! Hahaha! That's funny! You're very funny, Viral."

"It's the truth," he said irritably, scowling.

"Mmmhmm, sure," she said. She shook her head, still chortling, and went back to her stew. Well, if she chose not to believe him, that was her business. They went back to eating in silence, but Aika apparently wasn't one to stand for that kind of thing. "How're the repairs going?"

"The leg was badly damaged, but I'm certain I can restore most of its function," he said, not looking up from his meal.

"Sooo, then… it's going well?"

"Yes."

"Ah, good! That's good." She started to take another bite of stew, then lowered her spoon. "Hey, after you're done, would you please take a look at our Ganmen? If it's not too much trouble, that is. We've been doing our best to keep them running, but it's all been guesswork. It'd be great to have an expert's advice!" She gave him what was clearly intended to be a winning smile.

Viral considered for a moment. It would mean staying in this village even longer, but he had nothing better to do with his time, and it would take care of his debt to these humans for their assistance. "Very well," he said.

The human's face lit up with glee. "Fantastic! I'll let the other guys know." They lapsed into silence again, but it was even more short-lived that previously. But this time it was Viral who broke the silence, as he wanted to know about the Ganmen he'd be examining.

"What are your Ganmen called?" he asked.

"Huh?" Aika tilted her head slightly, puzzled.

"What are their names?"

"They're supposed to have names?" she asked blankly, her eyebrows raising.

"Of course!" he grumbled. "The Ganmen is an extension of the warrior. It's bad luck to fight with an unnamed mecha."

"O-oh. So what's yours called, then?"

"Enkidudu," he said proudly. Aika clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle. "What?" he growled.

"Nothing, it's just sort of a funny name."

"It's a warrior's name!" he snapped.

"Okay, okay, no need to get so upset!" she said, lifting her hands and grinning. Before he could retort that he wasn't upset, she spoke again. "Well, if it's so important, then what do you think I should call mine?"

"It's your mecha. Naming it is your responsibility," he said firmly. Now for his second question. "How long have you three had these Ganmen?" he asked. Aika tapped her fingertips against her chin as she thought.

"Let's see. It's been a little more than three years, I guess. We were all living underground before, but we came up here at that time. It was right after Simon the Digger defeated that Beastman general." Then she paused and scratched behind her ear, her brow furrowing slightly. "W-well, uh, you'd probably know all about that, right? I mean, y-you're a Beastman, so you must've been in that army…" She had clearly just realized this, because a look of apprehension abruptly crossed her face. Aika coughed and picked up the remaining piece of bread on her tray, shoving it into her mouth and looking somewhere beyond his left shoulder.

"I remember it," he said. He hadn't been there to witness it, but he'd watched it from Teppelin. He'd been healing from the final battle with Kamina at the time. He winced inwardly at the memory.

"Yeah, well, uh, that was when we came up to the surface. That's why mine's red, actually! I painted it like that to honor Gurren-Lagann," she said. No amount of nervousness could stop Aika from telling a story, apparently. He did notice, though, that she didn't quite look directly at him while telling it. "Minako was the first one to get a Ganmen. I was next, and then Shoji." She launched into a recounting of their three captures, complete with sweeping hand gestures and improvised sound effects. "And that's how it was," she finished, nodding decisively.

"Ah." Well, he'd learned something interesting thing from her rambling tale: either his fellow soldiers had been horrendously weak, to lose their Ganmen to humans armed with only the most basic of traps and weapons (at least Kamina had Lagann and Ritona Village's arsenal on his side); or these humans were even more resourceful and innately powerful than he'd thought, and he was still underestimating them. Just what exactly was Spiral Power capable of?

Aika drummed her fingertips on her knee, still looking past Viral, and then scrambled to her feet. "I, uh, I should get to bed. It's getting pretty late, and all," she said quickly. Her apprehension seemed to be catching up with her. "So, um, tomorrow morning, then? You'll show us how to maintain our mechas?"

"Even having realized that I was an enemy soldier, you still ask for my help," he observed.

"Y-yeah, well… since you're here and all, there's no use in passing up a chance like this," she said with an awkward shrug. She brushed her hands off on her baggy, charcoal-gray pants and crouched back down to collect their empty dishes.

"Well said. Yes, tomorrow morning," he agreed. _And hopefully it won't take too long,_ he added silently. She nodded again, smiled tensely, and then fled into the darkened launch cave. Viral quickly got back to work on his repairs.

* * *

><p>"He's weird!" Aika announced, bouncing into the small room she shared with Minako and Shoji. They'd lived like this for the last three years; Katashi had suggested it, saying it'd make sense for their three pilots to stick together as much as possible. At nineteen years old, Aika was now allowed to live wherever she wanted. She'd come to like living with those two, though, so she stayed.<p>

"Who is?" Shoji asked.

"Viral! He's a weird one," she said, plopping down on her bed.

Minako snorted. "Of course he is! He's a Beastman, what'd you expect? They're probably all totally insane."

"That's where you were all this time?" Shoji asked, looking concerned.

"Yeah. We were talking about Ganmen and stuff. He said all mechas need names!" She crossed her arms, narrowed her eyes and dropped her voice to a low growl, imitating him. "'The Ganmen is an extension of the warrior, it's bad luck to fight with an unnamed mecha!' I mean, how were _we _supposed to know that?" Snorting derisively, she took her hair down from its bun and shook it out. Her hair was one of the few things she was vain about; it fell to the middle of her back when it was down, and she'd always taken good care of it. She grabbed her comb from the little shelf carved into the wall above her bed and started running it slowly through her hair.

"Did he tell you anything useful when you were talking to him?" Minako asked.

"Not really, but he said he'd give us some Ganmen-maintenance tips in the morning. I asked and he said he'd do it."

"Huh. Well, at least we'll get something out of him being here, then." She went back to the book she'd been reading.

"I gotta say, I'll be glad to see him gone," Shoji admitted. "You see those teeth? He looks like he could rip someone's throat out." He shuddered.

"He probably has," Minako muttered. Aika had to admit, the razor-sharp teeth were also unnerving. _Wait a minute,_ she thought suddenly. _Clawed hands… sharp teeth… yellow eyes and hair hanging over half his face… No way!_ She hurriedly leaned over to her shelf again. It didn't have much on it: the one or two trinkets she owned, a stack of her few sets of clothes, her comb, and a certain book.

About a year before, some people from Kamina City had visited the village with a bunch of books about the history of the human race. It mostly talked about the war against Lordgenome, and Simon the Digger's victory. The people who'd brought the books had spent a couple months teaching everyone in the village how to read. She'd read that book over and over again. The Dai-Gurren Brigade's adventures were completely amazing to her.

She flipped through the pages until she got to the chapter about the great Kamina-sama, the first leader of the Dai-Gurren Brigade. When she reached one particular page, her jaw dropped. "Whoa!" she exclaimed. "I knew his name sounded familiar!" She held up the book for the other two to see. There was Viral's picture, drawn in colored ink, scowling out of the page at them.

"K-Kamina's nemesis!" gasped Shoji.

"There, you see? The sooner he's gone, the better," said Minako.

"I guess so," she said. She frowned down at the drawing in the book. It was hard to believe that the ruthless soldier described in the book was the same person who had stepped in to defend her village. Then she shook her head, like she was trying to shake out her conflicted thoughts, and put the book back on the shelf. "Hmm. Anyway, good night! It's been a busy day and I'm tired."

"'Night," said Shoji.

"Good night," said Minako. Aika shut the curtain that surrounded her bed and lit up the little electric lantern on the shelf beside her, and then settled back against her pillow with the book still on her lap. She picked it up and contentedly browsed through a few more pages, rereading one of her favorite parts. The pages were already well-worn at their edges, so she turned each one carefully.

Flipping to the end, she read the part that had fueled her dreams all this time—the part about the future. It talked about Kamina City, and how quickly it was growing. It talked about President Simon's vision for a world where everyone lived united, humans and Beastmen both, and how Kamina City was going to be the heart of that new, brighter world. And, most excitingly of all, it talked about the new Ganmen corps that would be protecting the city: the Grapearl Corps. She beamed and softly touched her fingertips to the illustration on the page, depicting one of the new designs. She imagined herself in the cockpit of one of these mechas, fighting enemies unknown to protect this shining new world.

Gently, she shut the book and put it back it its place. She quickly changed into her sleep clothes, a sleeveless top and a pair of loose shorts. Then she settled down beneath the blankets and shut her eyes.

Her head was buzzing from everything that had happened, though. She kept going over the battle in her head, and she kept thinking about their new guest. He was certainly an intimidating-looking fellow, with his huge hands, pointy claws and wicked teeth. And then there was that one yellow eye, staring out through a mess of straggly, shoulder-length hair. That stare was definitely something other than human. He wasn't exactly the friendliest type, but he didn't seem particularly evil.

On one hand, Hajime Village might have lost a lot of people if he hadn't jumped in and helped them stop the reptile Ganmens' attack. On the other hand, the book said he'd been a Commander in the Beastman military, which they'd given the gruesome name of the "Human Eradication Army". This meant that he was an enemy of humanity. Or at least, he had been, before Simon the Digger had beaten Lordgenome.

_So what is he now?_ she wondered. _Is he on our side? Is he on anyone's side?_ One day of helping humans wouldn't change the fact that he'd hurt humans in the past. _But maybe it means that he's facing towards a brighter future,_ she thought. _Oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter. He'll be out of here by this time tomorrow, I'm sure. _Her eyes just didn't seem ready to stay shut, though, in spite of her busy day, so she rolled out of bed, pulled her blanket around her shoulders, and took off for the watch-post where she knew Chiyo had the overnight guard duty shift.

"Hey, you!" Chiyo said with a smile as she stepped out of the tunnel. "What're you doing still awake? I thought you'd have been asleep already."

"I got a lot of busy thoughts tonight, I guess," Aika said, shrugging beneath her blanket. She walked over and stood next to her friend. "It's been a weird couple of days."

"Hmm, I dunno, I've seen weirder," Chiyo said, tapping her chin.

"Haha, that's true!" Aika agreed. She was silent for a moment, and then giggled as a memory surfaced. "Remember when Misaki tried to build her own clothes-washing machine?"

"Ugh, don't remind me!" Chiyo groaned. "And then Naoki tried to clean it up…!" She started giggling, too, and then both of them just couldn't stop. After a minute or two, their laughter died down and Aika sighed, gazing out over the inky-black plains.

"It's so pretty out here at night, don't ya think?" she said.

"Huh? Yeah, I guess so," Chiyo agreed. "Can't see much, though. I like seeing way far out there in the daylight."

"That's nice too, but… oh, I don't know. I kinda like that I can't see a lot," Aika said slowly. "It feels…" She waved a hand vaguely, searching for the right words.

"What? It feels what?" Chiyo prompted.

"It feels mysterious, I guess. Like… like _anything_ could be out there. Anything at all!" The thought made Aika smile. "It'd be great to get out and see for myself."

"Hmm, yeah… I suppose it would be," Chiyo agreed.

"Mmhm!" Aika said. "Just think about it—all the food we've never eaten, all the stuff we've never seen, people we haven't met!"

"You always get all fired up about this stuff, Aika," she said, chuckling.

"Kinda like how you get fired up over machines," she teased, sticking her tongue out and elbowing her friend. "Really though, it'd be fantastic to go on an adventure like the Dai-Gurren Brigade."

Chiyo's smile dimmed a little. "Uh, Aika… they all nearly died," she pointed out.

"O-oh, right. Um, ya know, an adventure without that part, heh," she said sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck.

"I'm sure it'll happen someday, Aika," Chiyo assured her.

"Yeah… I hope so!" Aika gazed out into the night again, imagining what might be waiting for her out in the world beyond her village. "Just now, I was reading about them, you know."

"About the Dai-Gurren Brigade?" Chiyo asked.

"Mmhm, in that book."

"Again?" Chiyo groaned teasingly. "How many times is it now, Aika? Thirty? Fifty? One hundred? Two thousand?"

"Oi!" Aika protested, grinning. But then she got serious again and smiled softly. "Imagine how great it'd be to go to Kamina City. You could repair Grapearls and have real tools! Nice tools that always work!"

"Yeah, I guess that'd be pretty nice," Chiyo agreed.

"Let's go there someday," Aika insisted. "Let's promise that someday we'll both go to Kamina City."

Chiyo smiled. "It's a promise!"

* * *

><p>Early the next morning, as promised, Viral met the human pilots and mechanics in their launch cave and told them everything he could about their Ganmen. These models weren't ones that he had piloted himself, but he was still able to figure out most of their basic systems. Their impromptu lessons concluded at around noon, and it took another couple of hours to finish his repairs. Once that was done, he was more than ready to leave Hajime Village.<p>

As he prepared to climb up into Enkidudu's cockpit, he heard Aika's voice behind him. "Yo, there!" she called. He turned around to see her standing with a parcel in her hands. "Katashi wanted me to give you this. It's food—not very much, but it should get you through a couple meals, I think."

"Give my thanks to Katashi," he said, taking the parcel. He truly was grateful; his arrow stock was still low, so hunting would have to wait. With everything that happened he hadn't had time to barter for supplies, so he hadn't even fulfilled his original purpose in coming to this village.

"So where're you headed now?" she asked.

"South," he said.

"You just picked that at random, didn't you?" She put her fists on her hips and smiled. She seemed to have gotten over her nervousness of the night before.

"I see no reason to bind myself to a certain destination," he said.

"Eh, fair enough. Anyway, you're lucky. You can go anywhere you want," she commented. The wistfulness in her voice was unmistakable.

"Why don't you leave, then, if you want to go so badly?" he asked.

"Well, they need me here. We've only got the three Ganmen to protect our village. It's my responsibility," she said, shrugging.

"Hnh. Well said." Doing one's duty was something he understood very well. He climbed up into the cockpit, tucking the parcel of food away in his supplies.

"Oh, by the way—it's Zensen!" she shouted after him.

"Hmm?"

"My Ganmen. I'm calling it Zensen," she explained.

"'Fight a good fight'," he murmured under his breath. Then he shook his head. "How very human." Enkidudu came to life and he gripped the control handles. "Good luck, naked ape!" he called down to her as the Ganmen rose to its feet.

"You too, Beastman!" she yelled back, waving cheerily. He guided Enkidudu out of the canyon, leaving Hajime Village and the strange human known as Aika behind.

* * *

><p><strong>And so our story begins (again)! Viral and Aika have met for the first time. I think it went pretty well! What do you think?<strong>


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter two, at long last! This'll be all-new stuff, even for those of you who read this story previously. I hope you enjoy it!**

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER TWO—WE WILL DESTROY EVERY SHRED OF THIS TOWN!<strong>

_Three months have passed…_

Viral pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders, warding off the winter chill as he left his Ganmen and strode into Shikakkei Village. It was one of the many Beastman settlements that had cropped up on the surface in the last few years. This was one of the larger such villages; it sat beside what had been a military armory, and it had stayed open all this time. This was the case in many Beastman settlements: military outposts had kept their doors open, armories had kept operating almost as though nothing had happened. Most of them, including this one, had at least a few Ganmen standing like sentinels along their perimeter. Perhaps it was out of a sense of community, although there were certainly practical reasons for banding together and forming villages. The latter had brought him to Shikakkei—he needed more hunting ammunition.

He nodded briskly to an anteater Beastman as the two passed each other, but aside from that one, he didn't see much activity in the town; he guessed that most of its inhabitants were indoors, away from the chill. It was only foolish wanderers like him who were traipsing about outside, he thought with a wry twist of his mouth. He passed through town without speaking to anyone, breath fogging in front of his face and dry soil crunching underfoot as he walked.

As he approached the armory, the door swung open and another anteater stood in its threshold.

"What brings you here?" she asked tersely.

"I'm here to buy arrows," Viral told her. She studied him for a moment.

"I've seen your face before," she remarked, crossing her arms.

"Oh?" he muttered. The anteater looked vaguely familiar to him, too.

"Ah, yes, I remember now," she murmured. "You're Viral, aren't you?" His shoulders stiffened under his cloak and scarf, bracing himself for another round of scorn.

"Yes," he agreed, his voice guarded. "That's who I am."

"We met once in Teppelin, I think," she recalled, lifting her hand and tapping one long, hooked claw against her chin. He relaxed just a bit, and the memory came back to him after a moment's thought.

"Your name is… Michi. Isn't that it?" he asked. "You were an officer with General Guame."

"A communications officer, yes," she agreed, her snouted mouth curling in a slight smile. "And you were a commander under General Thymilph."

"Heh. That was me, in another life," he agreed dryly.

"Another life, indeed," Michi remarked. "Come, I'll get you your arrows. Let's get out of this cold." He gratefully followed her inside, where the dry air of the armory engulfed him.

"How have these last few years been for you, Viral?" Michi asked as she led him through the towering stacks of crates filling the warehouse.

"Uneventful, mostly," he commented. "I've been… traveling." Wandering would have been a more accurate word, but that was irrelevant.

"Ah?" Michi said. "I wandered too, at first. Then I came to this town. There were some from my old battalion here, trying to make this settlement a nice place to live, so I decided to stay and help them."

"Hnh. And how has it been? Living here?" Viral asked.

"It's not easy, but it's worth it," Michi said. "I feel… almost normal, living in this town."

"Hm. Normal," Viral muttered. That wasn't a word he knew very much about anymore. The things he'd once considered normal had turned out not to be, and wandering in the wilderness tended to make it hard to have a sense of "normal".

"Here we are," Michi announced. "Do you prefer black-feathered arrows?"

"Yeah," he agreed. He gathered up as many as he could and paid for them with some medical supplies he'd found in an abandoned Ganmen.

"Ah, this is good stuff," Michi said approvingly as she tucked the bottles into the burlap pack strapped to her waist. "Good luck, Viral. You can come back here any time."

"Thank you, Michi," he said, giving her a slight smile. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd had reason to give someone a genuine smile. "I'm sure we'll meet again, eventually."

After leaving the armory, he headed off towards his next stop, the butcher's shop. As he walked, a sound caught his ears: it was a low, distant rumble, growing louder. He'd barely had time to pinpoint its direction of origin when the flash of light erupted on the east side of the town—and less than a heartbeat later, the blast hit. A thunderous roar filled his ears and the ground shook under his feet, the shockwave hitting like a physical blow. He yelled and flung his arm over his eyes, bracing himself. A siren went off as the explosion faded.

_The armory!_ he thought, sudden alarm flooding his veins. But no—that was on the south edge of the town. He turned to the east and saw a column of smoke rising up, heard the wail and clamor of terrified voices. Cursing, he turned and sprinted towards the disaster.

As he ran closer, the buildings around him showed more and more damage. The first fires appeared three rows of buildings away from the blast. When he reached the center of it, he stopped in his tracks, gaping at the devastation. The structures here were leveled, and the Beastmen that occupied the surrounding buildings rushed to drag the wounded from the wreckage. Many of them weren't moving at all. Those who could scrambled to fetch water, tossing it frantically on the fires.

"This… looks like a missile strike," he growled. He'd seen more than enough missile strikes to know what their levels of damage looked like. Before he could step in to offer his assistance, the familiar clanking steps of a Ganmen caught his ears from afar—first one, then another, and then still more. His head jerked up and he looked to the hills lying to the east of the town. The gleam of metal drew his eye; the head and shoulders of a mecha loomed up over the hilltop. Others quickly rose up behind it. The back of Viral's neck prickled with some strange premonition.

He could always just leave, he knew that. He could easily turn around and walk back to his Ganmen and not get involved. This wasn't his village, after all. But then he remembered Michi's face—the pride in her eyes, the simple contentment, when she'd talked about this town. And then there was this odd feeling in his gut, raising his hackles. Spinning on his heel, he tore off across town, heading for his Ganmen.

"Damn it! What the hell is this?!" he snarled under his breath as he sprinted, boots thudding against the dirt road. Clambering up into Enkidudu's cockpit, he piloted the Ganmen back to the eastern side of the town, just in time to see the six mechas that had been stationed at the town's perimeter joining him there.

"Who the hell are you?!" one of them, a crab-type, shouted warily at him.

"Viral! Former commander of General Thymilph's forces!" he barked back. "I came here to buy arrows from the armory." He huffed out a humorless chuckle. "I'm not the one you need to be concerned about right now."

The other Ganmen was silent for a moment, and then turned to look out towards the hilltop. "Ain't that true," the pilot agreed bitterly.

Seven Ganmen stood atop the hill beyond the town. Zooming in with Enkidudu's display screen, Viral saw strange, red markings splashed across the mechas' hulls, patchy and streaky as though they'd been painted with blood. Viral bared his teeth as he tried to read them; he didn't recognize any of them as written characters. Were they symbols of some sort?

The enemy Ganmen descended from the hilltop and started striding towards the town. One of them, a bird-type with damaged wings, stood out at the front. The crab mecha that had shouted at Viral jerked its left claw up and fired a small missile at the enemy, aiming it squarely into the dirt at the leader's feet.

"That's far enough! We can hear whatever you have to say from there!" the crab-type bellowed, hefting its pincers into the air. "What the hell are you playing at, firing missiles at our town?"

"What are we playing at?" scoffed the bird-type. "Oh, that's simple. We're going to wipe this disgusting town off the face of the map, you filthy furries!"

"Ah, so they're naked apes," Viral sneered. "How typical—they'll sit there and threaten us in the mechas they stole from us."

"Go ahead and try it, ya damn humans! We'll rip you apart, all of ya!" roared the crab-type. The other five Ganmen hollered and jeered.

"So be it. The more you fight us, the better our victory will be!" snapped the bird-type. The two Ganmen flanking it opened fire! A barrage of missiles launched from their shoulder armor as the enemy charged towards the town.

"Leave those to me!" screamed a Ganmen to Viral's right. Missiles exploded from its chest armor—they caught the others mid-air! The seven enemy Ganmen came barreling through the smoke.

"Let's go!" the crab-type shouted to the others. With a ground-shaking cry, the five from the town took off at a run. Viral thrust forward with Enkidudu's controls. It might not be his own village, but he'd sure as hell made this his fight just now. Snarling, he charged with them at the seven Ganmen.

The battle was over quickly; four of the enemy Ganmen were left on the battlefield and the rest fled, but not before they'd launched two final missiles at the town and set more of it ablaze. Once the survivors had gone, Viral turned his attention towards helping the townspeople douse the fires. Late that night, with the fires under control, he found himself with Michi and some of the other villagers at the town's tavern, sharing a round of drinks. Every table in the place was full, but near-total silence hung over the place. The villagers huddled together at their tables, murmuring words of comfort, grief, and anger. Some sat and didn't say a word.

"Damn naked apes…" murmured the crab-type's pilot, a tall and lanky canine. He growled and angrily ripped a bite off a skewer of grape-hippo meat. Viral frowned down at the skewer in his own hands, turning it around.

"Have there been other attacks like this?" he asked.

"Here? No, not at this village. We've had a few human troublemakers come through, but never anything such as this," the canine muttered. He lowered his food and pressed his knuckles to his forehead, his snout contorted in a grimace.

"Not at this village?" Viral echoed.

"We've heard about attacks on other Beastmen towns, not far from here," Michi explained quietly.

"And those attacks, were they from humans, too?" Viral asked.

"Hm. I- I think so," Michi considered, then she added sourly, "The naked apes are getting restless."

"Oho? Then we oughta find out where they came from and go give them something to keep 'em occupied!" the canine snarled, lips curling back. Michi nodded glumly.

"We were lucky—we didn't lose very many today," she pointed out, though her voice was strained as she said it.

"Losing even one to those naked apes is too many," the canine shot back. An uneasy, awkward feeling settled in Viral's gut, as though he were observing something he wasn't meant to. This wasn't his village, after all, and the ones who had died weren't his friends. It didn't feel right, listening in to the grief of these two. He quickly drained the last of the water in his glass and stood to leave, the rest of his meat skewer still in hand.

"Are you leaving here tonight?" the canine asked, glancing up at him. Viral turned it over in his mind. He didn't exactly have anyplace that he needed to be. There was no reason he couldn't stick around for a little while to help these Beastmen repair their town.

"If you'll have me a few days more, I think I'll stay," he replied. The other two seemed to understand. Michi gave him a tired, grateful smile.

"There's a spare cot at the armory if you need a place to sleep," she offered.

"I appreciate the offer, but no," Viral responded, bowing his head politely. He didn't plan on sleeping that night, anyway, and there was no need to explain that to anyone here. "I'll meet you back here in the morning." He started to leave the table, then paused and looked back at them. "Get whatever rest you can," he told them quietly.

As Viral walked back to Enkidudu, slowly chewing on the rest of the skewer, the conversation from the tavern churned through his mind. He couldn't help but think about how much things had changed in these three years. They had all lost friends in the war, naturally. Of course, prior to the human uprising, there hadn't been all that many casualties. What chance did the humans stand against Ganmen, armed with whatever light weaponry they could get their hands on? Rarely, a handful of rebellious humans would have luck on their side and take down a Ganmen—although, when casualties had happened, they were usually Beastmen caught off-guard outside of their mechas.

Nevertheless, any army was bound to suffer losses. It was never easy, but they had always dealt with it. But this, what he had seen in the tavern… this was different. These weren't soldiers dealing with the loss of comrades. These were villagers mourning the loss of friends, perhaps even ones they considered family. The Beastman villages that had cropped up all over in the past three years weren't just collections of former soldiers; they were communities.

And it sounded as though some humans weren't content to let those communities exist in peace. Well, that was to be expected. The Beastmen were the ones who had kept them underground for so many generations. They hadn't known it till three years ago—but oh, they knew now, and many of them were disinclined to forget it. The king who had commanded the Beastmen was gone, so what was left but to take out their anger on the remnants of his army?

Of course, if the humans believed that any self-respecting Beastman would simply sit back and allow itself to be killed for revenge… no, surely that wasn't the case. Viral had met many foolish and brash humans, but surely none of them were that idiotic. If they came around spoiling for some violence, they'd get it without a doubt. The only question that remained was whether this current of violence would burn itself out, or if it would boil up into another war.

* * *

><p><em>Four and a half months have passed…<em>

Weeks had passed since his visit to Shikakkei Village, and Viral had all but forgotten about the run-in with the angry humans. He likely would've forgotten it altogether, except that his next visit to a village would prove to be just as chaotic.

Enkidudu's heavy footsteps echoed as it trudged through a long, winding canyon. Viral checked the map display again; a glowing, green icon showed a village just beyond the canyon's end. And just in time, too; this time it wasn't his ammunition stocks, but his water supplies. Water was hard to come by in this region and being immortal didn't do much to stop him from getting thirsty. The residents of Shikkakei had told him to look for this village; it was a Beastman settlement, and it happened to lie in the general direction he'd randomly picked to continue his wanderings.

Finally, he reached the mouth of the canyon and Enkidudu emerged into the rocky plains beyond it. As the village appeared beyond an outcropping of rocks, the first thing he noticed was the smoke. It boiled high into the sky, thick and black and churning. Somehow, a sinking feeling in his gut told him he already knew where it was coming from. Picking up Enkidudu's pace, he rushed around the rock formation—and sure enough, the village he'd planned on stopping in was ablaze.

"Damn!" Viral snarled. These kinds of things seemed to be dogging his footsteps lately. Growling, he stared down at his Ganmen's controls. He knew he could just walk on by—this wasn't his village. He had no idea what had happened here; all he saw was a village on fire and nothing immediately obvious to suggest a cause. This wasn't really his business.

Then again, Shikakkei hadn't been his village either and he'd stayed a week to help with repairs. Well, it wasn't as if he had anyplace he urgently needed to be. Muttering a string of swears under his breath, he shoved Enkidudu's controls forward and thundered towards the burning village.

Leaving the Ganmen a safe distance from the blazing buildings, he darted into the smoke, tugging his scarf over his nose and mouth. Undying or not, he wouldn't be of much use if he was constantly passing out from lungfuls of smoke.

It didn't take long to find someone amid the chaos. Beastmen rushed through the haze, carrying buckets of sand and water. Viral spotted an eagle Beastman with soot-smeared feathers ahead of him, waving a bucket-carrier past. He strode over and laid a hand on the eagle's shoulder.

"Wha—who the hell are—" stuttered the bird Beastman.

"Doesn't matter. Tell me where to help," he urged.

The eagle's head jerked back slightly in surprise for just a moment, and then he rasped, "In that building over there—two are trapped!"

"Hnh." Viral nodded once and whirled about. Without another word he ran at the building.

"H-hey, wait!" the eagle shouted after him. "Careful! It's not safe in there! That's gonna collapse any second!"

_Not safe, huh? Well then, a real use for this ability of mine,_ Viral thought grimly. He gritted his teeth, sprinted to the left of the flame-filled doorway and lunged through the window. The last remnants of its glass shattered against his boots and he hit the ground inside in a roll. Springing lightly to his feet, he winced and brushed burning embers off his arm.

Viral narrowed his eyes, peering into the thick haze. He stepped into the middle of the room, each footstep carefully placed. The floor felt hollow, thin—some kind of basement under it, probably. He'd have to be cautious. The last thing he needed was to step in the wrong place and crash through the floor. The two trapped in here would have precious little time to spare and getting them out was going to be tough enough already. From up above in the dense smoke, the groaning of timbers caught his ear—with a dry crack, wooden beams showered down on him! A nimble leap to the side got him clear of the burning wood.

He bared his teeth and refocused, shutting his eyes and straining to hear past the crackling rumble of the flames. There—the sound of coughing ahead and to the left! He carefully treaded across the creaking floor till he found a room tucked away at the rear of the building, even more choked with haze than the one he'd just left. Squinting into the smoke, a jumble of confused shapes met his eyes. He could see crates, boxes, barrels—all on fire already. Beyond those, he could just see two shapes huddled at the very back of the room—and he could see the smoldering beams from the ceiling barricading them.

"Y-you… you over there! He—help… please…" choked a voice from the shadowed Beastmen. A feathered hand reached out over the debris. Even through the smoke, he could see it trembling. Viral didn't reply—he kept his attention on the dry, groaning floorboards and sussing out the safest spots to place his feet.

Slowly, he picked his way over to the debris pile. He could see the Beastmen now—a young eagle and an older hawk. The eagle cradled her left wing against her chest, eyes wide with pain. He frowned at them, then down at the heap of singed wooden beams that spilled down from the ceiling and trapped them.

"Can either of you walk?" he asked as he knelt to examine the heap.

"I th… think I can," wheezed the hawk. "But my hands… are burned… I can't carry her…" Viral glanced at the eagle, whose beak dipped down to her chest as she fought against the pain. If he could clear away the fallen floorboards on the left side of the pile, he could lift her over it. Standing upright, he flexed his claws and braced himself. He took a deep breath and seized the floorboards. His claws sank into the brittle wood and he bit back a hiss as the heat from the crackling board seared his fingers. Gritting his teeth, he hauled on the board, heaving it up and off the pile, and then he twisted and wrenched his claws loose to send it clattering to the ground. He turned back and disposed of more and more ember-riddled debris.

Stepping into the space he'd cleared, he sidled around the rest of the pile and reached for the little eagle. She sat still as he gathered her up into his arms, mindful of her injured wing. Carefully holding her light-boned frame to his chest, he turned to the hawk.

"If you can manage it, stand and follow me. Step where I do," Viral told him, voice raised over the rumbling flames. The hawk bobbed his head, eyes wide with fear, and slowly began to lurch upward. He stumbled, leaning heavily against the wall behind him, and painfully hobbled around the rest of the debris. Taking one wary step at a time, Viral picked his way back to the other side of the storeroom, guiding the hawk through the burning barrels. The floor groaned dangerously under their weight, but he kept moving. The hawk faltered as a floorbeam beneath him let out a loud snap, but Viral glared back over his shoulder.

"Don't hesitate!" he growled. "We have only a minute or two left!" They pushed on, closer and closer to the window Viral had come in through—and then they were there! Viral pushed his head through the gaping hole and yelled into the smoke outside, "Here! We're over here!"

Tall shapes appeared in the haze, darting towards them, and several bird Beastmen rushed into view. They gingerly reached in through the window and took the eagle from his arms, then helped the hawk over the windowsill, and finally Viral vaulted easily out through the window.

Together, they bolted away from the building—just as the cacophony of snapping wood and shattering glass filled the air and the flame-riddled structure crashed down behind them! Viral dove away from the hail of splinters and debris that billowed out as the birds scattered and ran. He winced as the shreds of burning wood left cuts on him for a moment or two.

He stood and turned to glance at the remains of the building, and then he shifted his attention to the birds. The eagle he'd talked to before going in dashed over, feathers ruffled and splayed in all directions.

"You—you did it! You got them both out… and you don't even have a single scratch!" the eagle sputtered. "Amazing—your luck must be incredible!"

"Yes," Viral muttered. "Are those two all right?"

"It's hard to say right now. I think so," the eagle said hurriedly. "Please, you've already done this much for us, but these fires—if you'd stay just a bit more—"

Viral nodded tersely and followed as the eagle raced off deeper into the burning village.

* * *

><p>When the last of the fires were finally under control, the eagle Beastman heaved a massive sigh and dropped the water bucket he'd been using. The bird sank to the ground, flopping onto his back.<p>

"There's so much more to do next… but I can't go on yet…" he panted.

Viral sat down cross-legged next to the bird, hands resting on his knees. "So rest for a minute, then," he said. "You won't be helping anyone if you collapse, will you?"

"Hah… that's right," the bird murmured. He stared up at the sky and Viral did the same, tilting his head back and surveying the twisting plumes of smoke rising to the sky. That smoke, he knew, was the essence of a town that had been whole when its inhabitants awoke that morning. It was their livelihoods—and their lives.

"What happened here?" Viral asked, his voice low.

"I wish I could explain it," the eagle said wearily. He draped his left forewing over his eyes. "They just attacked us! Right out of nowhere—all these humans in stolen Ganmen!"

"Humans," Viral echoed, scowling.

"They said they were gonna wipe us out," the eagle whispered. "'We will destroy every shred of this town!' That's what they shouted at us as they fired their weapons." He choked out a bitter sound. "They damn near did it, too."

Staring around at the devastated village, Viral couldn't really disagree with that. He remained silent, at a loss for anything comforting to say. What could he say, after all, that wouldn't sound hollow? This wasn't his home. These weren't his neighbors or friends.

But that phrase the humans had said—it tugged at his memory. Hadn't he just recently heard something like it? Ah, yes—at Shikkakei Village. Those humans had made some similarly aggressive claims and they too had nearly done exactly what they said they would. He thought back to that fight, pushing himself to remember exactly what had happened. There had been something distinctive about those Ganmen, something that had stood out…

"These humans and their Ganmen," Viral said slowly. "Did their Ganmen have markings on them? Any symbols?"

"Ah—symbols?" The eagle drew his forewing away from his face, frowning. "I can't… ah, no, they did! There were markings painted on the hulls; I think they were red."

Viral sat forward slightly, his suspicions piqued. "Did you recognize them?"

"No… they weren't any written characters I've ever seen before, and I've never seen military symbols like them." The eagle rolled his head to the side to look over at Viral. "H-have you seen them before?"

"Yes. Once, in another village," he said gravely.

"Then—do you know who they are? Those humans?" the eagle asked urgently.

"I don't, unfortunately," Viral said. So, he thought, that now made two villages attacked by red-marked Ganmen with angry naked apes for pilots. What was this, some sort of gang? Did they want revenge for their generations of subterranean confinement? Attacking peaceful Beastman settlements… perhaps it was retribution of a sort. Then again, perhaps they were just fired up from the war and wanted to keep the battles going.

Viral scowled again. Whatever this was, he had the nagging feeling that there was more to come. Sighing harshly, he rose to his feet and offered a hand down to the prone eagle.

"Can you stand yet?" he asked. The eagle bobbed his head and took Viral's hand, allowing himself to be pulled upright. As Viral followed the eagle off to see where he could be of use, he resolved to ask the villagers some questions later. If they had anything else they could tell him about these marked Ganmen, he wanted to know about it.

* * *

><p>Two days later, he hadn't learned much more about the marked Ganmen. They were older ones, typical low-grade models from Lordgenome's army. Their pilots were humans whose professed goal was to wipe out the entire village; their hulls were splashed with red emblems that no one recognized. That was all anyone knew.<p>

Having nothing better to occupy himself with, he stayed for a while to help the villagers clear away the debris. He spent three and a half weeks there, laboring over the repairs of a village he'd likely never see again. It didn't make a difference to him; it wasn't as if he had anywhere else to be.

By the time he finally left the town, the marked Ganmen had receded to the back of his mind. Whatever connection this attack did or didn't have to the first one, he doubted this was anything more than some resentful naked apes with too much time on their hands and too many powerful toys to play with.

Of course, that didn't mean he was going to let them do whatever they wanted. Attacking Lordgenome's army had been one thing; it was a war and that was perfectly fair. Attacking peaceful settlements was another matter entirely. He'd see what he could do about spreading the word to other villages, so they could keep an eye out for this gang and defend themselves accordingly. If these humans wanted to pick a fight, they might just end up getting one.

* * *

><p><strong><span>CHAPTER THREE— THE LIGHT OF TRUTH WILL BLAZE ACROSS THE<span> EARTH!** In progress, so keep an eye out for it!


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